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While pundits, bloggers, politicians and hacks conjecture as to the contents of the Petraeus Report coming out tomorrow, I’m confident about what you won’t find. While progress has been made in al-Anbar which is sure to be the focus of the report (as President Bush’s recent visit to the region assured), the unsung success is that of the Kurds. After all, how many readers are familiar with the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) official tourism site?
Also, of all the 55 million dollar 5 star hotels going up in the world, would it surprise you to hear about one going up in Erbil funded by Lebanese investors? That’s on top of the massive new mall with thousands of shops this blogger visited during his visit in March. What about the American University of as-Suleymaniyah? How about the flights from Vienna, Frankfurt, Dubai, Istanbul, Amman, Beirut, Tehran, Damascus to Iraqi Kurdistan?
Here are a few pictures from my visit in March (yes yes, the official travelogue is coming…one of these days). The real question is: Why is the great success in Iraq the country’s biggest secret? Why hasn’t the US trumpeted it more?
New building in Dohuk
New shopping center in Dohuk
New mall in Erbil
Minimall under construction in Erbil
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