The growing ISIS war against Iraqi Kurdistan is fueling an ethnic divide between Kurds and Arabs, and increasingly, that violence is playing itself out at Kurdish checkpoints manned by Peshmerga fighters.
Peshmerga fighters are openly beating Arabs they believe to be ISIS, and it doesn’t take a lot of evidence to convince them of that.
McClatchy reporter Mitchell Prothero reported the Peshmerga cheerfully dragging an Arab out of his car at a checkpoint, roughing him up and throwing him into their trunk. “He’s Arab, talks like he’s from Mosul and had a Qu’ran in his car,” one declared. That’s all it takes.
The Arab-Kurd divide is a long-standing regional problem, and seems to be getting worse as the latest war picks up pace, and fuels more refugees from the front line.
well that should end people's fantasies about the kurds being Jeffersonian champions of human rights and guarantors of equality and liberty.
just another ethnic militia that will never be able to hold any area that is not majority kurdish.
The headline says Arabs, but the story says ISIS. There is a big difference. Are they sorting out likely ISIS members, or are they going after Arabs in general?
It sounds like they are not differentiating, Mark. That is the point.