Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Who is killing former Iraqi air force pilots?

Aswat al-Iraq reports that a former Iraqi military pilot was killed while driving in east Mosul. Unexceptional, except that it reminded me of a rumor I heard in Iraq a few years ago, that the Kurdish government was determined to identify and kill everyone involved in the use of poison gas against Kurdish civilians in ...

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Wikimedia
Wikimedia

Aswat al-Iraq reports that a former Iraqi military pilot was killed while driving in east Mosul. Unexceptional, except that it reminded me of a rumor I heard in Iraq a few years ago, that the Kurdish government was determined to identify and kill everyone involved in the use of poison gas against Kurdish civilians in Halabja 25 years ago.

Aswat al-Iraq reports that a former Iraqi military pilot was killed while driving in east Mosul. Unexceptional, except that it reminded me of a rumor I heard in Iraq a few years ago, that the Kurdish government was determined to identify and kill everyone involved in the use of poison gas against Kurdish civilians in Halabja 25 years ago.

If that program of Kurdish vengeance does indeed exist, I’ve never seen it written about. Does anybody know more about this?

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1
Tags: Iraq, Middle East and North Africa, Military

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