Long live the Kurds

I am a retired Army veteran sent to the middle east in support of the Kurds during Desert Storm and the humanitarian efforts to the Kurds afterwards called Operation Provide Comfort. We nick named the second deployment "Operation Little Miss Muffet, Giving the Kurds their Way." Before going the I had never heard of the Kurds or the Turkish PKK. I learned a lot from being there and fell in love with these people as their history was slowly revielded in this pre Internet period. I also fell in love with this book which helped me understand the Kurds much better than just observing them. This book filled in many, many holes and created a hunger to learn more. Read this book. Superb.

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Very informative.

The author does a great job of reading which is not always the case. The entire book was a pleasure to read even if much of the information was a great disappointment for me concerning the world 's response to the tragedy of the Kurds. I highly recommend getting this book if you want to have any understanding of the Iraqi issues.

2 people found this helpful

Awesome read - highly informative

Where does The Miracle of the Kurds rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of the best books i've read. Could not put it down - works extremely well over audio media/format.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The libertarian implementation of Kurdish Economic policy
Their economic success - Google image search erbil and see what a 1st world country they live in
Their secularist leanings and tolerance
All the traumatic and harrowing tail of Saddam's war crimes against the Kurds
The shear resliance of these people.

After reading this book - for the firs time im thinking of going to the Middle East to see Iraqi Kurdistan. Only

Have you listened to any of Stephen Mansfield’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No. I felt he writes very well. The only issue I had with Stephen is he is a bit of a evangelical God bother-er. This bias came through slighlty in the book which was unfortunate. His love-hate review on Christopher Hitchens within the book had me rolling around the floor laughing. For a God botherer though this guy is pretty good, he seems to have liberterian bent aswell which un does a lot of it.

For instance he calls Christopher Hitchens a biggot at one point. Gives an harrowing account of the unprovoked chemical attacks on the Kurds. Then in the last chapter goes all Jesus on us. I found this hypercritical because evangelical Christians usually have the bigoted belief that non believers like Islamic Kurds & atheists like myself will endure hell fire for ever. If this nonsense were true then surely chemical war fair on Kurds pales in comparison? If it isn't true then it bigotry sup-parses anything Hitchens ever said. Justification from enternal torture by faith or based simply on what you believe with out evidence is ultimate in bigotry.

I need to point out the author never mentions hell fire - im just going on what I know of Evangelical Christians. Perhaps he is a cherry picker and takes all the non bigoted words of Christ into his faith. One would like to think so - he seems like a very nice guy.

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

I was against the Bush Iraq war. As an Australian 90% of our populous were against it and we still got dragged into it. I'm not so sure now. The prosperity in Kurdish regions as a result may have made it all worth while.

Any additional comments?

I sincerely wish Stephen Mansfield book is read by a large number of people and raises awareness of their plight.

The west should really back the Kurds. At last a middle eastern country or group of people who embodie our secular values.

1 person found this helpful

interesting, but limited

overall not too bad, but spent too much time on ancient history and pseudo sermons. would have been nice to hear more of the YPG/J persecution and struggles compared to the riches of KRG.

Interesting

Much to be learned from these people. The Kurds are a species like no other they are hard working people with a purpose in life and have been targeted for centuries. My experience with them in Iraq was superb. Great book to listen to.

Lacking depth

This might be the right book for you if you have no background knowledge about Iraq and the Kurds, but if you do have some experience with the subject you'll find the book only scratches the surface.