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Small boats lifeline for jihadist-besieged Iraq area
Small, battered metal boats crowd a muddy landing site on the Tigris River, taking on goods and passengers for the trip to an Iraqi area jihadists have besieged for months. Duration: 00:58.
By: AFP news agency
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Small boats lifeline for jihadist-besieged Iraq area - Video
Kerry in Baghdad to meet Iraq leaders as insurgency spreads
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Kerry in Baghdad to meet Iraq leaders as insurgency spreads - Video
Iraq battles humanitarian woes as fighting engulfs country
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Iraq #39;s Kurds boycott Iraq Cabinet in wake of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki comments
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Iraq's Kurds boycott Iraq Cabinet in wake of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki comments - Video
The U.S. has different policies toward different Kurdish groups. The U.S. works closely with Iraqi Kurds, whose policemen form a line in this photo. But the U.S. labels a militant Kurdish group from Turkey, the PKK, a terrorist organization. A PKK supporter waves a yellow flag of the group's leader. Three separate Kurdish militias have been fighting the group that calls itself the Islamic State. Safin Hamed/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
The U.S. has different policies toward different Kurdish groups. The U.S. works closely with Iraqi Kurds, whose policemen form a line in this photo. But the U.S. labels a militant Kurdish group from Turkey, the PKK, a terrorist organization. A PKK supporter waves a yellow flag of the group's leader. Three separate Kurdish militias have been fighting the group that calls itself the Islamic State.
In Iraq, Kurdish militiamen fighting the group that calls itself the Islamic State are key American allies.
In Syria, some Kurdish fighters battling the very same Islamic State are considered part of a terrorist group, according to the U.S. government.
What gives?
In both Iraq and Syria, the Kurds are a long-repressed minority who are fighting back against the threat posed by the Islamic State. In the northern parts of both countries, Islamic State advances have driven large numbers of Kurds from their homes. In the latest upheaval, an Islamic State offensive has driven more than 100,000 Kurds from northern Syria into Turkey in just a matter of days.
With the U.S. military now bombing in Syria and in urgent need of allies on the ground, why does the U.S. have such a dim view of Kurdish fighters in Syria when it is counting so heavily on the Kurdish fighters in Iraq?
The U.S. also says it's going to train "moderate" Syrian rebels, a process that could take a year to generate some 5,000 fighters. Yet the U.S. has given no indication so far that it's prepared to work with the Kurdish militias in Syria that are already clashing with the Islamic State.
Well, it's the Middle East, so it's complicated. And it involves the Kurds, so it's beyond complicated.
Syrian Kurds carry their belongings after crossing from Syria into Turkey near the southeastern town of Suruc on Saturday. An estimated 130,000 Syrian Kurds have fled fighting and entered Turkey in the past few days. Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
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Why Does The U.S. Like Iraq's Kurds But Not Syria's?