Kurdish soldiers trained by IsraelisSy Hersh reported this years ago.
Newsnight has obtained the first pictures of Kurdish soldiers being trained by Israelis in Northern Iraq, as well as an interview with one of the former commandos who carried out the work.
When the former Israeli special forces soldiers were sent to Iraq in 2004 they were told they would be disowned if they were discovered.
Their role there was to train two groups of Kurdish troops.
One would act as a security force for the new Hawler International Airport (near Erbil) and the other, of more than 100 peshmerga or Kurdish fighters, would be trained for "special assignments", according to one of Newsnight's interviewees.
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With Iran becoming Israel's principal enemy, there have been reports of Israelis using Kurdish areas of Iraq to increase its strategic options.
One constraint facing the Israelis, should they ever want to hit Iran, is distance. Most Israeli jets are short range and they have few in-flight tankers. Some studies have suggested that Israel could make refuelling stops at a modern airfield in Kurdistan.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Kurdish soldiers trained by Israelis
* bbc:
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2 comments:
Hersh is my GOD. (see under 'heroes')
too bad i'm still so sleepy, no time or inclination to go on about how many times he's been right about shit. but i don't have to tell you/others here, y'all prolly know much better than i do.
yay Sy.
let's hope he is wrong about iran - he and larisa seem to have the same sources.
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