Posted on 08/12/2014 11:35:48 AM PDT by GonzoII
The Peshmerga, whose name translates as "those who face death", are the Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq. In recent weeks, they have been fighting Islamist militants of the Islamic State - formerly known as Isis - who seized large swathes of territory in the north.
Now thought to number around 190,000, the Peshmerga have their roots in groups of loosely organised tribal border guards in the late 1800s, but were formally organised as the national fighting force of the Kurdish people after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the wake of World War One.
As the Kurdish nationalist movement grew, so too did the identity of the Peshmerga as a key part of Kurdish culture - evolving from tribal defenders to nationalist fighters for an independent Kurdish state.
When did the Peshmerga force begin?
The modern-day Peshmerga are mostly veterans from the fighting against Iraqi government forces, and from infighting between Kurdish factions.
After World War One the region of Kurdistan, previously a strategic buffer area between the Ottoman and Persian empires, began to see itself as one of several nation states newly created in the region, carved out from the remains of the Ottoman Empire - Iraq, Syria and Turkey.
The regional disarray left a power vacuum, and Kurds began vying for an independent state of their own.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
The Free World's "boots on the Ground".
So, what are they called now?...........
I still call ISIS ISIS.
Soon to be WasWas.......................
the Islamic State
Meanwhile, the world's most effective fighting force is being dismantled to pay for food stamps and 0bamaphones ...
I wonder if Bill Clinton has figured out what IS IS yet? What a blessing it would be if the ISIS were to become IS WAS. We seem to be concentrating our efforts on destroying the weapons they have ... but, weapons don’t kill ... the users of such weapons kill - same logic used when we contend that guns don’t kill, people do. In the ISIS case, however, get rid both of perpetrators and their weapons to ensure the safety of the besieged.
They need a better “branding consultant”,
I think they’ve been ISIL, ISIS, and IS over the last 3 months.
Wait till they all cluster around some some target they wish to attack and then MOAB their asses.......................
Obama: Do the Pershmerga have golf courses?
Aid: No
Obama: FORE!
Laughing and laughing - gonna post this to them on twitter.
Hope you don’t mind. TOO funny. Thanks!
bttt
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