Meeting Her Kurds, And Away *

Matilda Hatt, my colleague from the C.I.A., dropped in unexpectedly the other day, all full of thoughts and ideas about Kurds. Apparently she had been providing security for some sort of clandestine mission undertaken by....well, she didn't say. Good little soldier Tilly always was.

Anyway, she came away impressed. The major city of Kirkuk was now in their capable hands, along with various and sundry oil fields. The populace was in full support of the leadership, all felt they were being well looked after, schools were flourishing, and their Sunni Islam religion, while important to them, was confined to the mosque rather than the Kurdish legislature.

Most important of all, in Tilly's opinion, was the Kurdish militia, the well-respected Peshmerga. This was a fearsome force, battle-hardened against a long struggle with the Turks. This conflict appeared to be drawing to an end, she informed me, given Turkey's alarm over the twin horror stories that are the carnage in Iraq and the surge of refugees from Syria. An alliance could well be in the offing.

"I wonder Tilly," I broke in at this point, "if the Peshmerga are ready to take on those superstitious maniacs known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham, or its weird acronym, ISIS?"**

Tilly replied, "I thing the word here would be "salivate". The Peshmerga see ISIS as a total betrayal of Islamic values, and lump it together with such lovely groups as Boko Haram and al-Shabaab. They would look forward to an attack, but think it unlikely.

"Why is that?"

Because ISIS is really a group of warriors, They would be actually facing a disciplined and competent militia, and in such cases, "warriors" go down the tubes. Look at Culloden. Look at Caesar's campaign in Gaul. Then there's the Battle of the Boyne --"

"All right" I interjected. "Point made. And I am now well au fait with the situation, for which, my thanks. And things can, in little, be seen to be looking up."

"Not surprising," countered Tilly, "When you begin flat on your back."

Any further comment here would, I thought, be very unwise, and we went in search of martinis.

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*Dragging Little Miss Muffet into all this I thought somewhat unfair. -- Ed.

** The use of ISIS. It annoys me greatly that this scruffy lot has usurped the name of a very respected and powerful Egyptian goddess. Shame on whoever formed the acronym. -- L.S.S.