Michael J. Totten: Northern Iraq: A Photo Gallery

February 18, 2006

Northern Iraq: A Photo Gallery

Kurdistan Water.jpg

Birds take flight over a river flowing south from the Kurdistan mountains toward the Mesopotamian plains.

A refurbished castle along the road between Salahadin and Erbil.

Kurdistan Mountain Hotel.jpg

View from the lobby of the very well-guarded Khan Zan Hotel overlooking the front range of the Kurdistan mountains. Security guards damn near took the car apart before letting me get anywhere near it. Two guests are shown logging on to the wi-fi connection on their laptops.

View From Kurdistan Hotel.jpg

Looking out the window from the hotel.

Mountains Near Suli.jpg

Mountains on the outskirts of the city of Suleimaniya as seen from the parking lot of the Kurd-Sat TV station. Kurd-Sat broadcasts to Kurds inside and outside Iraq on the Hotbird satellite.

Hills Outside Suli.jpg

Suleimaniya is surrounded by mountains on all sides, some which are partly covered in evergreen trees.

The Road to Halabja.jpg

On the road to Halabja, the city where Saddam Hussein massacred thousands of people in one day with chemical weapons. The countryside is mostly empty of people. 5,000 villages were completely destroyed by the Baath during the genocidal Anfal campaign. There is no evidence that some of the villages ever even existed.

Above the Clouds on the Road to Biara.jpg

Above the clouds on the road to Biara, one of the villages occupied by Al Qaeda (Ansar Al Islam) before the U.S. invasion in 2003.

Looking Into Iran.jpg

Looking into Iran on the road to Biara.

Iran from Biara.jpg

Biara is exactly, precisely, on the border between Iraq and Iran. If you walk twenty feet beyond the last house you’ll be outside Iraq. I took this photo, facing into Iran, from the center of the village.

Posted by Michael J. Totten at February 18, 2006 03:55 AM

Comments

Thanks Michael! you have touched my heart by these fascinting photos!

Posted by: hiwa at February 18, 2006 05:04 AM

Peshmerge Michael, lovely awsume pictures. These mountains have been around for long long time and seen army of alexander, romans, mongols, russians, brits etc come and god. now the yanks around and hopefully one or two of them leave a sign or their names on a stone or on a three or something for other Michael Tottens in the future to explore.

Posted by: seattle kurd at February 18, 2006 05:04 AM

amazing photos. i agree with seattle kurd. makes us all look kind of insignificant.
best wishes to Kurdistan.

Posted by: steve texas at February 18, 2006 05:52 AM

Thank you so much for sharing! Breathtaking beauty! One can only wish for peace to finally come to such a beautiful part of the planet! Yael

Posted by: Yael at February 18, 2006 05:56 AM

I'm on a wonky rural dial-up that hits 26 on a good day, yet I happily wait for your photos to load. Thank you for it all.

Much of Kurdistan is one of the best fruit producing regions in the entire world. One indication of long-term victory in Iraq will be when the Kurds begin planting orchards, particularly apricots. They have an incredible natural advantage in that crop, and there is a good world market for dried apricots, apricot jam, and apricot brandy.

You might want to look for new orchards as one of the most potent leading indicators of rural confidence in peace and prosperity. When (eventually) they start building distilleries for apricot brandy, even if only for export, we'll know that, at least in Kurdistan, the victory has been consolidated.

Posted by: bart in Kansas at February 18, 2006 06:03 AM

Question: why no pictures of the villages themselves?

I have only the haziest notions, probably wrong, of the patterns and customs of life there, especially in the villages. Are the houses adobe, stone, or what? What is the penetration of modern building materials (concrete block, etc.)?

Regards,
Ric

Posted by: Ric Locke at February 18, 2006 07:00 AM

You refer to Biara as "one of the villages occupied by Al Qaeda (Ansar Al Islam) before the U.S. invasion in 2003." Since one of the great bones of contention in the US debate over Iraq is whether Al Qaeda was working with the Iraqi government pre-invasion, could you clarify a little what was going on there?
Thank you.

Posted by: wj at February 18, 2006 07:20 AM

Ric,

I'll post pictures of the villages themselves when I write about them. Most of the houses are made of stone. In Biara, many are made of cut blocks of slate.

Posted by: Michael J. Totten at February 18, 2006 07:21 AM

WJ,

I'll write about what was going on there at length on the main page soon. In the meantime, think "Taliban." I talked to people who were arrested, beaten, and tortured for laughing with their friends in a teahouse.

Posted by: Michael J. Totten at February 18, 2006 07:22 AM

Looking at the pictures, the thought occurred, "They need trees." But then, I guess, parts of the mid-West and southwest U.S. need trees, too, so maybe if you've never had them, you wouldn't miss them.

Posted by: NahnCee at February 18, 2006 10:20 AM

I loved the pictures of course but this is just a general question.

Have you considered doing a podcast of your travels?

I know I would like to hear first person your thoughts and sometimes rationales for those thoughts.

Posted by: john beard at February 18, 2006 11:52 AM

It looks like Montana.

Posted by: Dani at February 18, 2006 02:46 PM

Dani,

I was thinking the exact same thing. Except for the absence of the lakes in the Grand Teton photos, the rest of it looks much like the mountains of the northern tier of states in the Midwest. Beautiful country.

I hope these people get to live their lives as they wish. They have certainly paid the price so that they should be able to. If they can get the orchards going again and the homes as Michael showed in the other set of photos, then they will have a real chance to succeed.

Posted by: dick at February 18, 2006 03:33 PM

Michael,

A bit tongue in cheek, but in that last photo did you feel like you were looking into Mordor?

Posted by: Graham at February 18, 2006 06:42 PM

Great pictures, Michael!

In stories about the American Southwest, wide open spaces are a metaphor for free spiritedness, independence, and self-sufficient aloneness typified by the iconic American cowboy. The two are so intertwined, that the former is often presented as a cause for the latter. Did you find those traits in the people you meet there?

Posted by: Ardsgaine at February 18, 2006 07:25 PM

Wow! The beauty of nature knows no borders.

Micheal, how would one go about booking a room at the Khan Zan Hotel (and how much is the going rate)? Google couldn't tell me a thing.

Thank you. The pictures are simply breathtaking.

Posted by: Murray at February 19, 2006 12:25 AM

I agree with you that racial profiling is wrong, but look at the current situation in that country. I am sure they are doing it for security reasons and probably are under orders to do that. I am a Kurd and when someone asks me where I am from, I say Kurdistan. I will never say Iraq, and as a Kurd I say that Kurdistan is not the land of the Arabs and hope it will never be. How can you say that these two Arabs were not allowed to visit a city in their own country? When in fact its not there country. Modern day Iraq is not the land of the Arabs, arabazation of the land took place with the spread of Islam. So don’t call it there own country.

Posted by: Dyko at February 19, 2006 01:12 AM

Murray,

The Zhan Zad costs 120 dollars a night.

Email them at Khanzadhotel@yahoo.com if you want to book a room.

Posted by: Michael J. Totten at February 19, 2006 01:34 AM

"Zhan Zad" should read "Khan Zad" above.

Posted by: Michael J. Totten at February 19, 2006 01:35 AM

Grant,

I did not feel like I was looking into Mordor. For one thing, what I saw of Iran is beautiful. Also, the Kurds I met who had been there say Iran is wonderful. They wanted me to know that there is a HUGE distance between the people and the state. Iranians, they say, are overwhelming secular pro-American people. Man, when they get regime-change in that country it will change the world.

Posted by: Michael J. Totten at February 19, 2006 01:37 AM

Beautiful. Inspire me to visit Iraq. It's a shame pictures like these never make their way into newspapers. Thanks for all your hard workd on the site.

Posted by: lebanon at February 19, 2006 05:24 AM

Cool, I didn't know Kurdish Iraq had castles.

Posted by: TallDave at February 19, 2006 05:34 PM

Man, when they get regime-change in that country it will change the world.

Indeed, though in my humble opinion that is much less likely than people think.

Police states fall for only two reasons: a failure of will in the leadership to do what's necessary to preserve their rule, as happened in the Soviet Union (they could have sent in the tanks to crush the 1989-1991 uprisings as they had before, but by then the seven decades of accumulated evidence that their movement was both morally and economically bankrupt had sapped their will to continue the oppression), or through external means.

The mullahs are never going to have a failure of will, because they're religious zealots; they have few qualms about simply slaughtering any apostate democratic revolution. And they are sitting on trillions in oil.

The international community will not approve regime change in Tehran. The U.S. will not take military action with no international support. There are no mass graves, no history of invading neighbors, no 12 years of flaunting the UN, just a moderately bad human rights record and a nuclear arms program they pretend not to have.

There's only one scenario in which I can see it happening, and it's not pretty: a massive pro-democracy in Tehran that forces the mullah's hand. The tanks and secret police move in and begin massacring the deomnstrators. If the U.S. President has the guts, troops are sent in to defend the people from their government, the regime is toppled and maybe Iran gets a government that respects its people's rights.

But that's a long shot.

Posted by: TallDave at February 19, 2006 05:50 PM

With exception to the castle on the tell these pictures remind me of the typical landscape one can find out here in the Sierra mountains and foothills in the western U.S.

I just wanna get on a dirt bike on one of those mountain roads and go!

I hope we (Americans and coalitions forces) are true and deserving friends to the Kurdish and Iraqi people.

Posted by: Natasha at February 19, 2006 10:47 PM

Kurdistan sure looks like Utah. And from what you say, they sure seem to be like people from Utah: religious, patriotic, willing to defend themselves, hardworking, fans of George W. Bush...

Posted by: lebanon.profile at February 20, 2006 04:05 AM

lebanon.profile,

1) kurdish people are NOT religious at all. Micheal mentioned that point several times in his blogs
2) yes they are patriotic and willing to defend themselves, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Look at other groups in the region (Turks, Arabs)are they not patriotic??!
3) They are not fan of Bush, even if he helped to eliminate "The Monster" Saddam, but they are fan of America. When they are watching TV and they see New York they think "woow what a great city the amircans have, all this skyscrapers,etc."
They are NOT political fans.
Some did not forget that USA abandoned kurds during the 70s and 80s.
Nevertheless, the diplomatic relationship between them now is excellent.

Hope I could help you.

Posted by: X-Dream at February 20, 2006 12:10 PM

I disagree with the opinion above that Iran has a "moderately bad" human rights record because the female population is systematically abused. Maybe since that's just half the population the situation is only half bad, but when you are in that half, it's as bad as it gets.

Posted by: St. Ursula at February 20, 2006 06:24 PM

Aack, unclear sentence above. Make that 'Because the female population is systematically abused, I disagree with the opinion above that Iran has a "moderately bad" human rights record.'

Posted by: St Ursula at February 20, 2006 06:28 PM

I may be mistaken, but I belive that Saddam Hussein had the Iraqi Army de-forest much of 'Kurdistan' that is pictured abovve because the forests made it easier for the Kurds to hide from the Army (before Northern Watch began in the early '90's), just as he drained the marshes in Southern Iraq to take away the hiding places of the 'Marsh Arabs'.
Perhaps Mr. Totten can enlighten us as to whether that is true in some of these photos. I read somewhere in 2003 that the Kurds are working to re-forest that part of the country, but that is will take years to see it happen.

Posted by: David at February 20, 2006 07:28 PM

Flashback to Wednesday March 19, 2003, the days when Turkey voted on the approval of US's use of Incirlik Air Force Base as a platform against Iraq:

The leaders of the two major Iraqi Kurd political parties, Turkmen representatives, Turkish government officials and the U.S. special envoy to the northern Iraqi opposition agreed Wednesday..[March 19, 2003]....to preserve "Iraq's independence, sovereignty, and territorial and national unity."

Lest we all forget, all of those breath-taking photos on your site are images of Northern Iraq. Calling it by the misnomer "Kurdistan", doesn't make it so... Apparently the decision of the Turkish lawmakers against the use of Incirlik, was the correct one, and I salute them for making the choice democratically. The knife cuts two ways. Let's hope the Turks do not decide to protect their interests in Southeast Turkey with a show of force. Next thing you know, the best seller "Metal Storm" will seem less like fiction and more like an accurate prediction.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0215/p01s04-woeu.html

Islam is often said to be a "way of life", but it's failure lies in the fact that the Koran is literally interpreted word for word as a guide for getting into Heaven, instead of for making this world a better place.

We need independent, dynamic and modern interpretations of the Koran. It was created at a time when the only way to effectively spread it, was "by the sword". Well, these days, the pen and keyboard are mightier, logic and reason can be added to the recipe of Koranic interpretation... Religion propagates on it's own merits, and unless the Islamic system of faith changes, even those who were born into it by chance (such as myself) are going to inevitably turn their backs on it or at the very least, dismiss the elements which clash with their value system (this is a good thing) We need to cut out the tongues of the imams and mullahs, from whose hands a billion Muslims are eating, literally and figuratively. We need to put our faith into knowledge and truth, which to me are the only things which deserve worship or sacrifice.

The Koran commands Muslims to fight injustice and oppression and occupation, with guns blazing- this is hard to deny. But the Koran also sets forth "rules of engagement". I can't get into detail but I know that even an enemy soldier who is injured and/or un-armed is supposed to be shown mercy, allowed to live, even fed and nursed back to health. It goes without saying that the killing of non-combatant civilians, women, children, elderly, is strictly forbidden and sinful. I think the jihadists consider such death to be 'collateral damage'. Again, the knife cuts both ways.

Here is the denomination which will interest Americans the most, IJTIHADISTS:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ijtihadists

I'm not exactly a maven on such matters but I've tried. I noticed some misinformation being splashed around and I thought I would weigh in. Many thanks.

Posted by: Amerikan Turk at February 20, 2006 07:54 PM

"Look at other groups in the region (Turks, Arabs)are they not patriotic??!"

Arabs are often not. That is why pan-Arabism was so strong a force for so long and that is why so many foreign terrorists receive support from at least some Iraqis.

Arabs are more often nationalist than patriotic, I think.

Posted by: Andrew Brehm at February 21, 2006 08:42 AM

X-Dream,

I've got to correct you. It seems that you misread Michael, not me.

Michael did say that the Kurds refer to the American President as Hajji Bush, a term of profound respect. Kurds not only love the American people, but also the President that freed them.

Secondly, the Kurds are avowedly religious. As Michael notes, they don't practice the psychotic, consulate burning, Christian slaying, Shia mosque blowing up version of Sunni Islam. That does not mean that they aren't incredibly pious people.

The Kurdish Islamic Union has five members in the Iraqi parliament and a sitting minister in the Kurdish Regional Government. They claim they would have received even more votes had they not been suppressed by the KDP and PUK. Recall that just prior to the Iraqi elections, KDP partisans destroyed the KIU headquarters in Dahuk and shot two KIU members point blank in the head.

The KIU and Islam are potent forces in Kurdistan. Mam Jalal and Mam Rustom may be able to get away with drinking publicly, but Massoud does not consume alcohol. Alcohol is not sold publicly in Hawler (one must get it in the Christian area of Ainkawa).

Posted by: lebanon.profile at February 21, 2006 12:17 PM

When I read about Kurds I remember newsreels from my childhood showing Kurds fighting someone, I don't know who, Turks, Iraqs, Iranians, hell maybe even Russians. For those of you too young to experience them, newsreels were pre TV news movies shown between the featured movies at the theater downdown.
I second the comment that the area looks like the Sierra foothills. The lack of trees probably resulted from 10,000 years of running goats on the hills.
Too bad this area will be off limits for tourists for a long time.

Posted by: dilbert dogbert at February 23, 2006 10:17 AM

Mike, I spent nine months in and around Erbil Mosul Ankawa Kani Kershala. Your web site has re sparked memories of my time in Iraq. Great Web site! I used to visit people at the Khanzad (CPA) on busness (GOOD FOOD) and bring my ING BN from Erbil to share some of the food. Oh, they used to have a dog at the Khanzad that we called smiley he was white and he would come to you and if you didn't know any better you would think he was bareing his teeth. He had a lot of health problems and went to the big kennel in the sky. I love the people and I trusted the Erbil ING Bn with my life. I miss the country and the people, I keep in touch with a person in the old ING Bn and I probabily will for ever. Did you notice that on Friday all the people would Picnic along the road to the Khanzad and dance and just enjoy people. Mike thanks for the trip back to Southern Kurdistan. So you met the Devil worshipers around Aqura. (They are OK)

Mam Loui

Posted by: Mam Loui at February 24, 2006 03:24 PM

Hey Michael

First I want to thank you for posting some of the nicest and most beautiful places on the planet. Though we have a long way of enjoying life to the fullest extend in Kurdistan, it's well on its way. The place has changed a lot since our family move to the U.S. in 1997. I am originally from Kirkuk though I don't have a lot of memories of it. I was young (i'm 23 now, born in 1983 and left Kirkuk in 1991) so the only thing I remember about Kirkuk was our family being in a back of a truck leaving kirkuk on a dark, freezin' night and saw the oil flames shooting up from the Kaiwan (pronounced: Kay-One) Site.

The place looks a lot different than the one I left behind. You don't see these pictures and stories on CNN. The kurds, and myself especially, will never forget what America and George W. Bush did for our people, will be forever gratefull.

I'm moving back home as soon as I get my Business diploma and I wanted to thank you again I've been looking for photo's like these for a long time on the web. But didn't find any till I saw your site.

Oh and one more thing, besides the new hotels and the Yizid's "mecca" i've been to almost all the other sites you showed in your photo's.

That photo from Biyara towards Iran is amazing though a bit eerie isn't it? more like a Lord Of the Rings type setting for sure.

But again I can't thank you enough hope you had a great trip in Kurdistan and with America's backing hopefully Kurdistan will inspire that democracy George Bush was hoping for in the middle east.

Posted by: Ako Shwani at February 25, 2006 12:12 AM

So when will you set up a tour for all your fans in Kurdistan that you would guide us through the beautiful country?

I have 3 weeks to spare in May. Will you be in Kurdistan? How do I get there from southern Turkey?

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