Word: peshmerga
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...crucified in a blood-pooled halo on a suburban street. The two had taken up positions near the Baath Party center in Kirkuk's Huria district last Thursday and had fired at people passing by. Eventually separated, the duo hung on for about four hours before teams of Kurdish peshmerga (those who face death) shot them. "We're happy they've killed them because they've done many bad and cruel things," said Haias...
...multipronged assault on Kirkuk began before daylight. U.S. special forces led battalions of peshmerga, who for the most part met no Iraqi resistance. To the east, however, it was a different story, as Iraqi soldiers tried to mount a last stand. They were positioned at the city's edge, having retreated there from bases farther afield amid intense bombing that began in March. This meant Kirkuk's first line of defense was now also its last...
When the assault kicked off, close to 300 peshmerga from one of the Kurds' top units raced to the Iraqi line. The fighters and the U.S. special forces leading them found themselves in a bigger battle than they had anticipated. With two tanks firing as they withdrew, the Iraqis yielded their outer ring of bunkers but stood fast on the city's outskirts. Iraqi soldier Riaz Jihad Zahir explains why he and his comrades stayed. "The officers had told us Baghdad had fallen, but they said the execution squads would kill us if we left," he says...
Forty-five minutes later, the Kurds began firing rockets into the Iraqi zone. Shortly afterward, a B-52 trailing four white vapors laid a carpet of perhaps a dozen bombs on the Iraqi trenches. Black clouds boiled up as the peshmerga whooped from their hilltop trenches that hours before had been occupied by the Iraqis being bombed. "This attack is a sacred thing," said Ismael Mohammed. He was fighting to return to the home in Kirkuk he had been driven out of seven years before. Kurdish commander Mam Rostam, a nom de guerre meaning Uncle Rostam, reveled in the momentum...
...Dropping into Arab neighborhoods in the center reveals a deep hatred for America and affection for Saddam Hussein. There is also bitterness at the role of the Kurdish peshmerga in securing this majority Arab city. When a small convoy of American Humvees rolls by the residents silently watch. But when the convoy is out of sight the hate is palpable. "America and Britain promised to give us democracy and stability but they haven't done it," said one resident. "The Kurds came and destroyed our city," shouted another. Before long they are chanting "Down Down Bush! Long Live Saddam...