U.S. aid slips by Kurds’ veneer of success

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U.S. aid slips by Kurds’ veneer of success
By Heath Druzin, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, March 17, 2009

IRBIL, Iraq — The tiled floors of Irbil’s sprawling new police academy are spotless, as are the air-conditioned dormitories. Tucked into the rolling hills outside this regional capital, the manicured 37-acre campus even boasts a soccer field. One thing is missing, though: students.

Officials with the Kurdish Regional Government say the $5 million in U.S. funds they expected to furnish the academy and hook it up to water and electricity is on hold.

The three-province Kurdish semi-autonomous zone, run largely by a regional government, has experienced a striking lack of violence since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. Not a single American soldier has been killed in the area during the war.

But now many Kurds and U.S. soldiers stationed in the region say that very success means much-needed aid and military support is bypassing the area, headed for Iraq’s poorer, more violent Arab-majority provinces.

Anyone strolling through downtown Irbil will notice a glut of new construction, residents in smart, modern clothing, new cars clogging the streets, and a distinct lack of U.S. firepower on display. Policemen even have time to hand out parking tickets.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61376