Holed up in the rugged, isolated mountain country that straddles the borders of Syria, Turkey, Iran, Russia and Iraq, the Kurds are a rebellious, trigger-happy breed who distrust the Arabs and traditionally hanker after little more than a fine horse, a good rifle, and a woman who can bear strong sons. For the past year, however, Iraq's Kurds have been in open revolt, last April demanded an autonomous Kurdish state in northern Iraq. Led by Red-leaning Mustafa Barzani, a onetime mullah (religious teacher) who spent twelve years of exile in Russia, Kurdish rebels have seized control of the...
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