Kurdish Security Forces Shield RegionFrom Iraq's Security Woes
The Kurdistan Regional Government's sophisticated intelligence network has ensured relative peace in contrast to the rest of Iraq.
SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq — At the last checkpoint on the road leading into the Iraqi Kurdish city of Erbil, a driver rolls down his window and a uniformed officer peers into the car.
“Are there Arabs onboard?” he asks. Kurds are waved through while Arab passengers are questioned, and almost all are told to get out of the car for further checks by the US-trained Kurdish security forces.
Strict control of access to Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region has helped insulate it against the violence that plagues the rest of the country, where bombings and shootings are a daily reality that has driven thousands of Arabs, including Christians, north seeking refuge.
To illustrate how far removed the Kurdish region is from the security problems of the rest of Iraq, while militants stormed Abu Ghraib prison this week and released 500 convicts, including senior members of al-Qaeda, one of the top headlines in the local Kurdish press was the death of a 14-year-old girl stung by a scorpion.
