[Zhang Fei]

I also suspect that Israel will aid such a Kurdish state, which would give them a huge technological leg up on the surrounding Arabs and Persians.

Nobody's really sidled up to the Iraqi Kurds because (a) the leadership is a slippery bunch and (b) Iraqi Kurdistan is surrounded by Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkey. Can't get to it without the consent of one of its hostile neighbors (hostile to us or hostile to Iraqi Kurdistan). Same problem we have with Afghanistan.

[okie01]

(b) Iraqi Kurdistan is surrounded by Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkey. Can't get to it without the consent of one of its hostile neighbors...

Ergo, it sounds like a great place for an Israeli re-fueling stop on the way to and from Iran...