A Kurdish Opinion: ‘Soft dictatorship’ is US’s vision for Iraq

"(Socialist Worker) by Mariwan Hamarsheed- After the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Kurdish region was held up as a democratic model for the country. But today it is ribboned with anger and disillusion. Regular demonstrations have confronted growing nepotism, corruption and repression.

Those protesting have spent most of their lives under Kurdish control. Since the 1991 Gulf war, the Kurdish majority regions of Iraq have been run by two parties — the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

Between 1994 and 1997 they fought a bloody civil war in which thousands of people were killed and thousands more displaced.

From 1997, control over the region was divided between the two parties. The PUK controlled the Sulaymaniyah area in the east, while the KDP ran the areas around Irbil in the west.

A recent unity agreement has seen the two parties carve up all ministries between them. People are enraged at their exclusion from the political process, and this anger is most concentrated among young people."
The Kurdistani