Word: iraq
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...case of a Russian attack on Turkey, the best invasion routes lead through Kurdistan, at Maku in Iran and Ruwan-diz in Iraq...
...look: the rugged, isolated mountain country spanning the Russian-Turkish border and stretching eastward to the Caspian Sea may be the strategic key to the whole troubled Middle East. This land (see map) is Kurdistan. It is split up among five sovereign nations (Russia, Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq), but in the minds of the 4,000,000 fierce Kurdish tribesmen who live there, it is one country. It lies like a great, clumsy sickle over the Middle East, the handle anchored in the mountains near the Persian Gulf, the top of the blade resting in Russia and the cutting...
...Kurds may prove a powerful explosive in any coup the Communists may try in the unstable Middle Eastern nations, particularly Iran and Iraq (last week, in addition to his other troubles, Iran's Mohammed Mossadegh faced a Kurdish uprising protesting against land reforms which the Kurds consider contrary to their tribal system...
...World War II, G.P.U. agents were busily signing dozens of secret treaties with Kurdish chieftains. In 1942 after the Russians had occupied northern Iran, the Reds went to work on a plan for an "independent" Kurdish nation. They took a group of Kurdish 'chieftains from Iran and Iraq to Baku for a royal round of banquets and ballets. A Russian agent got wind of a secret patriotic organization called the Committee for Kurdish Youth, and promptly sent two agents, in the guise of horse traders, to offer "help." The youth organization grew into a full-fledged Communist party...
...which marched into Mehabad and hanged its president to a flagpole. But the "People's Republic" left several legacies, including General Barzani, who had headed the puppet state's army and managed to fight his way back to Russia. I asked a Kurdish officer serving in the Iraq army what would happen if Barzani's men came down across the border, calling on the Kurds to arise and unite. He answered: "Any Kurd-and I am proud to call myself one-would have a hard time resisting such a temptation. I am afraid Mullah Mustafa would...