Kurdish question
Does anyone know why the Kurdish-controlled zone exists in the first place? I have trouble believing the Kurds have had the fighters and equipment to hold off the Iraqis, even with the no-fly zone. This is likely to become an academic question soon, but I've wondered about it for a while. I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but I suspect at the end of Gulf War I the Iraqis were told to leave the Kurds alone, or else. I don't recall this being a publicized part of the cease-fire.