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Attorney General Jon Bruning in Iraq
meeting with Kurdistan officials
8.5.2008
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May 8, 2008
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan Region, 'Iraq',--
Attorney General Jon Bruning is in Iraq this week
with a small delegation speaking with Kurdish
officials.
Bruning spoke Wednesday from the relatively peaceful
area of Kurdistan region in 'northern Iraq'. He says
the delegation hoped to help the United States
maintain good relations with Kurds.
He says the U.S. will abandon the Kurds again if a
Democrat wins this November.
Thousands of Kurds were slaughtered in the 1990s
after they rebelled against former Iraqi leader
Saddam Hussein with encouragement of the United
States. |
Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning |
Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele,www.ekurd.net
Oregon state Sen. Jason
Atkinson and some Oregon businesspeople are with
Bruning.
Bruning says the trip is being paid for by the
Kurdistan Regional Government.
Kurds need U.S. support.
By Tim Elfrink
With sectarian violence continuing across southern
Iraq, the United States should work to build bridges
with the more stable Kurdish north, Nebraska
Attorney General Jon Bruning said while visiting the
region Wednesday.
Speaking by phone from Erbil, the capital of Iraq's
semiautonomous Kurdish region, Bruning said the
first two days of a weeklong stay have shown him a
pro-American and economically thriving region that
needs more U.S. support.
"There is a country here that's very friendly to us,
and it's in our interest to have good relations with
Kurds," Bruning said. "We need all the allies we can
get in this part of the world."
Bruning arrived in Iraq early Monday on a trip
organized by Oregon State Sen. Jason Atkinson and
funded by the Kurdistan Regional Government. Also
making the trip are former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael
Steele and several Oregon businessmen.
Kurdish officials hope the trip helps forge bonds
between their burgeoning government and political
and business leaders in America, Bruning said.
"This is not what you or I imagine from Iraq. It's
not a war-torn or destroyed place," he said. "The
purpose of the trip is for the Kurds to point out to
our state leaders that there is a different part of
Iraq."
Bruning said he has met with the Kurdish foreign,
planning and agriculture ministers and plans to meet
with the region's prime minister later this week.
Earlier this week, the group toured a Saddam
Hussein-era torture facility and visited the city of
Sulaimaniyah, near the Iranian border. Bruning plans
to return to Nebraska this weekend.
On the Net:
Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning:
http://www.ago.state.ne.us/
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
omaha com | AP
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