Violence in Iraq is down. U.S. and Iraqi officials are hammering out a security pact. And while U.S. commanders are expressing concern about recent attacks in the city of Mosul, you'll find a fair share of "how Iraq is getting better" stories out there in the news. But recently the New York Times travel section had a surprise of its own: a brief guide to visiting Iraq's Kurdish region in the north.
A $2000 roundtrip flight from New York's JFK airport via Austrian Airlines will take you to the city of Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan (tourist visas are available at the airport). Once there a California-based company offers 12-day cultural tours of the area starting at around $5,860 a person. According to U.S. troops I talked to in Iraq this summer, you might even run into American soldiers in the town of Dohuk where they sometimes make supply runs to local stores. Kurdish forces guard the soldiers' humvees as they mingle through the town and even get hotel rooms for the night. That's the kind of place Kurdistan is.
From the Times:
While much of Iraq remains mired in war, the semiautonomous Kurdish
region in northern Iraq has enjoyed relative safety and prosperity,
thanks to a no-fly-zone imposed by the United States
in 1991 after the first gulf war. So instead of repairing oil fields
and burying their dead, Iraqi Kurds have been erecting shiny hotels,
opening amusement parks and trying to figure out how to lure tourists.
There is even a Ministry of Tourism, with a staff of more than 400 and a bare-bones Web site (www.tourismkurdistan.com)
with color pictures and links to the region’s thin infrastructure. And
to show that it means business, it has broadcast a series of television
commercials in the United States called “The Other Iraq” that depicts
high-tech factories and happy children greeting American soldiers as
liberators.
But still:
The larger issue, of course, is the continuing violence. As recently as
last March, a bomb went off in Sulaimaniya, the second-biggest city in
Iraqi Kurdistan, killing a security guard. A truck bomb in May 2007
outside a government office in Erbil left over a dozen dead and several
more wounded. And earlier this month, the long-simmering tensions
between Turkey and Kurdish separatist rebels erupted again when Turkish
warplanes entered northern Iraq and bombed remote rebel bases, killing
at least 15 Kurds.
The Times article certainly could spark an interest in more adventurous types of travelers. As an Iraq veteran, I've sometimes wondered if I'd ever be able to bring my future children back to Iraq, as many Vietnam and WWII vets have done with their respective wars. I thought it would take decades to get the answer. At this point it looks like all it would take is about eight thousand dollars -- if you opt for the guided tour.
