These Folks Support the USA in Iraq

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U.S. Reportedly Building Front in N. Iraq

It should be clear that the Iraqi people need our help. An excerpt from the story:

Barham Salih, prime minister of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan government controlling the eastern half of the autonomous Kurdish enclave, declined to confirm the landing of U.S. forces. But he said such an incursion would be received warmly by the mostly pro-American Kurds.


"Americans are liberators," he said. "They are welcome in Iraq and they are welcome in Kurdistan. They are welcome to come here and help bring us freedom."

The Arab television station Al-Jazeera, reporting from Sulaymaniyah, quoted witnesses as saying U.S. airborne troops landed by helicopter at a base near the city.

The Kurdish official said the planes landed in darkness, using no lights, and departed when the personnel left. Residents living near Bakrajo airstrip described loud, strange noises late Saturday night, and four buses leaving the area.

Small groups of American forces have scoured the countryside for months, and the Kurds long have awaited more.

Mohammad Haji Mahmoud, leader of the Kurdistan Social Democratic Party and a key member of the Iraqi opposition, said the Americans are welcome to use Kurdistan as a staging ground for a northern assault against Saddam's regime.

"We're not going to say no to anything the Americans want," he said. "America is the true liberator and the only one who could liberate us from this regime. We couldn't do it with our rusty Kalashnikovs in more than 40 years."