Dohuk

I'd never heard of Dohuk before, but I know it now through a wonderfully uplifting post by Michael Yon. It's a town in northern Iraq, in the Kurdish section — and it's thriving. The people are safe in their everyday lives, the markets are full of goods, and the economy is in good shape (at least, by the evidence of Yon's eyes). An excerpt:

The Army left me behind and I stayed alone. I walked for miles and miles.

Through the marketplace, up and down the streets.

There were shoeshine boys, flower shops and computer stores. The computer stores in little Dohuk are much better stocked than those Milano, Italy. This is fact.

I walked into a store called Zanest Computer & Electronics, at 14th Anthar Street, and there I sat with Mr. Abdul Shukry, and asked him about business. Mr. Shukry said business is good, and that the US Army had come a few days earlier and purchased sixty computers and sixty UPS's and gave them all to Dohuk University.

"That's great," I said, "But how are sales if you do not include the Army business?""Still is good," he said, "Since the war has ended, all is good.""Are the people happy?" I asked.Mr. Shukry paused for a moment, as if it were the simplest question he'd been asked in months, "Of course they are happy, " he said."Are you Muslim?" I asked."Yes," he said."Sunni, yes?""Yes, Sunni. Most Kurds are Sunni.""Many people think the Sunnis all make war.""Not us. We are Kurds."

We talked on, exchanging answers to questions like, "What do you think of the police?" "What do you think of the U.S.?" "What do you think of the U.K.?" "Of Germany, of France?" "What do you think of Yezidi people?" "What is on your mind?"

You don't want to miss this post; go read it before you forget to. And don't miss the link to Dohuk University in his post!