|
Answers to Your Questions About Kurdistan
region - Iraq 23.3.2007 |
|
|
|
March 23, 2007
Part of the (Questions & Answers)
ABC's Terry McCarthy as he reports from Iraq and
Kurdistan. Here are his answers to a selection of
the queries posted on the "World News" message board
and ABCNEWS com as part of our week long series
"Where Things Stand":
Question: A question for Terry McCarthy about
universities in Kurdistan. Are there any that are
hiring U.S. professors/teachers of English? I have
heard that an American university has broken ground.
Pamela, San Antonia, Texas |
Terry McCarthy reports from Iraq. Photo:ABC.News |
Answer: They have
indeed got a grand scheme to build an American
university here in Sulaimaniyah, but that will take
some time before it is up and running. Today in the
universities in Erbil and Sulaimaniyah there are
many Kurdish-American teachers and they do also hire
other Americans. Unlike Baghdad, security is not a
problem for foreigners in the Kurdish cities.
Question: I just wanted to ask Mr. McCarthy
if (from what he has seen) he feels the people of
Iraq are better off now than when Saddam was in
power.Jean, Beachwood, N.J.
Answer: The
answer to that question is it depends where you
live. If you are in Kurdistan or in southern Iraq,
which are both relatively peaceful and also doing
quite well economically, life is better than under
Saddam. But in Baghdad and across central Iraq life
is clearly worse — particularly for Sunnis, who were
favored by Saddam but are now out of power as the
government is dominated by Shiites.
Question: Was it easy to move about in the
Kurdish north? Did Terry have to take a security
detail along with him? Were the people eager to
speak with Terry or were they reluctant? —mzgrdngrl
Answer: It was
actually very easy to move around the Kurdish north
— we flew in to the main city, Erbil, on a
commercial flight from Jordan, drove around in cars
we rented up there, and apart from our visit to
Kirkuk which is right on the edge of Kurdistan and
where they have had some bombs recently, we didn't
even wear body armor (as we do all the time when we
go out in Baghdad).
In fact it was tremendously refreshing to be able to
drive where we wanted to, stop and talk to anyone we
thought interesting, eat out in restaurants even
after dark — things we wouldn't dream of doing today
in Baghdad.
And we found the Kurds very happy to talk to us. The
U.S. is very popular in the north, because the U.S.
air force has been patrolling a no-fly zone over
Kurdistan since 1991, effectively keeping Saddam
Hussein's troops out and allowing the Kurds to
develop their own government.
Question: Mr. McCarthy, I noticed on your
report tonight a doctor from the north looking to
purchase a new Mercedes. Even if he makes ten times
the average wage of $300 a month, how can he afford
that car? — tko44140
Answer: That is
a good question — some of the cars that we saw in
the showroom were $30,000, $40,000, they even had a
Hummer for $54,000. Most of the customers we spoke
to in the actual showroom had set up their own
businesses - construction, import-export, real
estate. Because Kurdistan is relatively safe there
is a huge flow of investment into the north,
something that is sadly lacking in the rest of the
country.
abcnews go.com
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 