INDCJournal: "Iraqi Kurdistan says it's open for business"

« Quick Links | Main | Speaking of Iraq ... »

November 14, 2006

"Iraqi Kurdistan says it's open for business"

Posted by Bill

"Semi-autonomous region woos the West with high-profile ad campaign:"

While other parts of Iraq remain mired in unrest, the northern region known as Kurdistan is touting itself as an oasis and aggressively courting businesses and tourists.
The push for development includes a Western-style advertising strategy with ads on cable TV, in radio and magazines, and a new investment law approved by the region's National Assembly to attract money from foreign investors. The region's economy already is one of the strongest in the Middle East.

Despite the inevitable negative caveats that follow in that report, Kurdistan really is a remarkable success story, one that highlights the disparity between Arab political, religious and economic problems** and success stories in other parts of the Middle East and greater Islamic world.

Heck, the Kurds even have genuinely moderate Islamists. Not merely Muslims; Islamists.

Despite the naysaying about the war and the uncertainty of success in the rest of Iraq, the liberation of the Kurds from the spectre of Saddam Hussein is a rather consequential and lasting victory.

** Fareed Zakaria does a great job in covering the unique problems of the Arab world in chapter 4 of "The Future of Freedom," btw.

Posted by Bill at November 14, 2006 10:58 AM | TrackBack (1)

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.indcjournal.com/cgi-bin/mt/dafrules/tapaz.cgi/2820

Comments

Bill.
Is there any chance you can make it
into Iraqi Kurdistan?
The reading public really needs to
hear more about this part of Iraq.
That is one part of Iraq I wouldn't
mind visiting.

Posted by: nbpundit at November 14, 2006 02:21 PM

No, definitely won't be going up there.

Michael Totten has done some independent reports from Kurdistan that you'd find informative. Click on the link to "moderate Islamists" in this post, click on the link in the next post, and that's his site. Poke around in the search box and you'll find stuff from his trip there.

Posted by: Bill from INDC at November 14, 2006 02:24 PM