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I found Kurdistan such a beautiful and inspiring place to visit that I wanted to understand it better.
Today’s Iraq includes some of both ancient Babylonia and Assyria. I have dome most on the Kurdistan area.
PS. NONE OF THIS INFORMATION CAN BE GUARANTEED CORRECT!
HISTORY OF IRAQFormerly MESOPOTAMIA
The Cradle of Western Civilisation
An outline of the history, both cultural and political of the area called Iraq (in 2014). Iraq has always been an area of ferment.
Mesopotamia means the land between the rivers--
– the Tigris & Euphrates & includes the biblical Garden of Eden. The green on this background is the Fertile Crescent.
View Normal, not full screen to see credits & sources.
◄ Map of modern Iraq.
The Tigris & Euphrates draining into the Persian Gulf. Mesopotamia means Land between the Rivers.
▲ The main Kurdish area today. Overlapping 4 countries.
The Kurds are the largest nation without a state.Saddam Hussein led the Anfal against the Kurds in 1998, from
February to December. Their identity is undiminished.
TIMELINE
80,000 to 35,000BP Mousterian - Neanderthals50,000 BC Jabroudian (Yabroudian)40,000 BC, Amoudian culture30,000 BC, Emirian culture20,000 BC, Aurignacian culture10,000–7000 BC Neolithic starts with farming6100 – 5400 BC Halaf Period 6900–6500 BC Hassuna culture6500–3800 BC The Ubaid Period5500–3000 BC Copper Age3000BC -750ish AD Bronze Age.2500 BC to 605 BC Assyrian period broad definition2340-2125 BC Akkadian Period (southern Iraq)1200 BC-539 BC Iron Age1300- AD Ottoman State &Empire
The Berekhat Ram Figurine (The Acheulian Goddess)This figure is a 35mm high fragment of volcanic rock (basaltic tuff) that was found between layers of volcanic flow in southern Syria. 233,000--800,000 years old, the Acheulian paleolithic era. Made by Archaic Homo Sapiens or Homo Erectus.
Perhaps the earliest figurative art. FIRST!
The Neanderthals in the Shanidar Cave, north of Erbil in Kurdistan. Remains of 8 adults and 2 infants have been found. The remains are dated between 60,000 to 35,000 years ago.
This is among the oldest sites and the furthest east they’ve been found, So old is hard to date accurately. More 50 K yr ago some Neanderthal women had children with modern human men. Work continues
50,000 BCE Jabroudian Culture, (Mousterian)The only known site for Neanderthals in the middle east is Shanidar in Kurdistan. They hunted a wide range of animals: evidence of elephants, rhinoceros, antelopes and small animals are all found in their sites. The Neanderthals started making stone tools between 50,000 & 55,000 years ago.
VOLCANIC ERUPTION
A little less than 40k yrs BP was a devasting volcanic eruption in central Italy Called the Campanian Ignimbrite (CI) eruption.
Ash was blown all over the eastern Mediterranean, and reached as far as south western Russia. This cooled the climate and deposited ash.
It might have wiped out the Neanderthal culture.
Neanderthals, total range in blue.
Early modern humans out
of Africa
Cro-magnons, may have reached the middle east by 100,000 BP.
They left no early genetic trace, only tools. They spread out 50-60,000 yrs ago & are the ancestors of modern Caucasians.
OUT OF AFRICA
How people emigrated from Africa. Research by the Genographic project created by the National Geographic Society. Published 2014.
The womb of nations DNA evidence6 modern human groups emerged from the red area to become :-- Mediterranean,
North European, Caucasus, Gedrosia (now west Pakistan), Southwest-Asian, and Northwest-African. Divergence started about 40,000 years ago.
ZARZIAN CULTURE
Epipalaeolithic (end of the Paleaolithic), about 18,000-8,000 years BC. Modern human remains were found in Zarzi cave in Kurdistan, Zagros region. The same culture was also found in the Palegawra Cave (next slide) which has been thoroughly excavated.
These highly mobile hunter gatherers started gathering wild seeds, they ground them with stones to use the flour in cooking.
Some became the cereal crops in the future. It is thought they spent the winter near a lowland water source using rock shelters, and summer in the hills.
Zarzian is Characterised by
microlithic flint tools.
Early modern humans, using microlithic tools, hunted, butchered & ate many wild animals here. They ate onager, red deer, wild sheep and goats, and occasionally killed the enormous wild cattle. Remains of a dog were found. They probably managed wild animals.
Palegawra Cave, Zagros foothills east of Kirkuk.
14 – 12,000 BP.
Early crop growing in the Epipalaeolithic
DNA studies show that plants and animals were domesticated several times. Wheat was first domesticated in south eastern Turkey about 12,000 years a ago, according to DNA evidence. Crops were also being cultivated in the Zagros mountains of Iran about 12,000 years ago, at a site known as Chogha Golan.
Emmer, Einkorn wheat, & barley were cultivated from the wild.
Figs are among the oldest cultivated fruit having been traced to 5000 BP
A site on a terrace of the River Zab in Iraqi Kurdistan 6 kms from the Shanidar Cave, associated with the transition from a hunting-gathering economy to farming. The site provides important evidence of early stock control associated with a radiocarbon date of circa 8640 BC.
High proportions of immature sheep in the upper levels, may indicate incipient domestication or indicate stock manipulation, perhaps herding, rather than domestication.
Occupation was probably seasonal and plant resources were clearly exploited as indicated by querns, grinding stones and storage pits. Stone axes and worked bone with incised or notched decoration were found.
Karim Shahir Culture, 9000 - 7000 BC Early control of livestock.
A hilltop farming village, Excavated 1954-55, between Kirkuk & Sulaymaniyah. 100-150 people lived in 20 mud brick houses with stone foundations. They grew wheat, barley & lentils, kept sheep, goats and dogs and foraged wild plants. They used obsidian & bone tools, cooked in clay ovens and spun fibres.
Jarmo: Pre-pottery Neolithic 7090--4950 BC
Domestication of the aurochs began in the southern Caucusus and northern Mesopotamia from about the 6th millennium BC. They were might have been beasts of burden as well as meat animals.
Although there were aurochs native to Britain, all our domestic cattle have been of near eastern descent.
Hunting mural in Çatalhöyük, perhaps the world’s oldest village, in Turkey. Inhabited from 7500 - 5700 BC
Halaf & Hassuna culture areasLate Neolithic
Hassuna culture 6900–6500 BC
Hassuna was west of modern Mosul. It was excavated 1943-44 by Iraq Directorate of Antiquities. A small village but sophisticated agricultural village. Six layers of houses were uncovered, each progressively more substantial. Few Hassuna villages had more than 500 people.
Doesn’t it look sophisticated?
SUMER Ubaid Culture 5300—4000BCPeople lived in villages mainly by farming. They produced beautiful fired pottery. The Fertile Crescent supported Irrigated agriculture which started 4 - 5000BC.
The Ubaid Period 5500–4000 BC
The Ubaid period gradually developed from the Halaf.Farming was developing more intensively, irrigation developed further.Villages appeared for the first time. The potters wheel in Ur, Mesopotamia around 3500 BC. The first, slow wheels meant a coil pot to be made faster. The fast wheel came later and produced thrown circular pots. They could be made quickly and neatly. The wheel for transport came at nearly the same time.
Pottery jar from the Late Ubaid period.
FIRST!
Ubaid Stamp seals & cylinder seals of stone
May also be worn as amulets
Yarim Tepe -- Halaf Period- 6100 – 5400BC.
Around 5900 B.C.E. , farmers in the foothills of the Zagros mountains began to dig canals to carry water from rivers to their fields to irrigate them during the dry season.
1792– 1750 BC Babylonian King Hammurabi was the first to institute water regulations within his kingdom. This early code covered:
A) The distribution of water proportionally based on the acres farmed.
B) A farmer’s responsibilities in maintaining canals on his property.
C) The collective administration of the canal by all users.
FIRST!IRRIGATION
Lizard people, thought by some to be aliens, sent by the god Enki to bring a more sophisticated culture to Earth. They bred with “the daughters of men”, producing the Nephilim. Note the chap does have trousers on, their sexuality is emphasised! But why do have lumps on their shoulders?
2-3000 BC, early bronze age settlements.
The tombs of Ur yielded very beautiful and interesting things, like the Royal Game of Ur
Ur was the largest city in the world from c. 2030 to 1980 BC. Its population was approximately 65,000 (An estimate on Wikipedia)
The City of Ur
The Royal Game of Ur played from 2,600 BC.
The rules :
Dice were used to play.
FIRST known board game
This sort of pottery was traded throughout the middle east. These were found at Hassuna.
King Nebuchadnezzar 1st 1126–1103 BC Victory over Elam (in modern Iran)
The transport wheel was invented around 3200 BC,
Soon after the potters wheel.
Logs came first, for rolling things, a slice of log eventually got an axle.
Replica of wheel found in the Ljubljana Marshes, Slovenia.
Around 3500 BC
Sumerian wheel, like those of 2700 BC in Mesopotamia, one chunk of wood.FIRST!
An early depiction of a wheeled cart 2600-2400 BC, found in a Sumerian royal grave in Ur.
FIRST! wheels
• Eridu excavation in 1941. Dated to 4800BC the earliest of 16 layers, the ever first settlement. Founded by Adam and Eve? It was irrigated from the Euphrates.
The colonial expansionism of the later Uruk periods. [by who?] The building of ziggurats to link heaven & earth begins.
The city of Uruk was founded 4500 BCE
Administrative tablet with cylinder seal impression of a male figure, hunting dogs, and boars, (aka Uruk III script)
SUMER (Ubaid)
3500 BC earliest writing from Uruk, in the south
FIRST!
1st state around 3400BC
FIRST!
Sumerian is the first known written language and the earliest known literature. Today it can be viewed at the ETCSLcorpus website, created at Oxford University. There the tales of Enki, Enlil, Inana and other deities may be read, as well as the Epic of Gilgamesh, King lists and other writings.
FIRST!
FIRST written numbers
Gilgamesh ruled Uruk in Babylon around 2700 BC. He is a known historical figure and ruled around 2700 BC from a place which is now southern Iraq. Stories & poems about him were written in Sumerian and Akkadian.
The famous Epic of Gilgamesh tells of his adventures with his wild-man companion called Enkidu.
FIRST! Written stories
AKKADIAN PERIOD ? (Bronze Age)
The Dynasty of Akkad. Dates given vary, 2350-2150 BC.
RAPID URBANISATION
Early Bronze Age c. 2600–2000 BC – Erbil (northern Mesopotamian) urbanised :--
Baqrta/ Baqarru, EBA- 80ha, a 5ha village by the Neo-Assyrian period.
Qasr Shemamok, ancient Kilizu, the largest LBA site on the Plain.
kingdom of Qabrā 5.5kms NW of Baqrta – a large walled town. 3rdk BC to late bronze age. Important in 2nd k had a canal through it.
Gutian king Erridu-Pizir 2200–2100 BC
IRON AGE / Neo-Assyrian settlement of Erbil plain was densest in 1st k BC
Cylinder seal and modern impression: hunting scene, 2250–2150 b.c.; late Akkadian period. Mesopotamia Chert; H. 1 1/16 in. (2.8 cm)
FIRST!
King Shulgi 2012 -- 1982 BCRepeatedly fought the nomadic Guti, because they raided farms. Thousands died on both sides. They were regarded as uncivilised barbarians and lived in the central Zagros mountains. The Guti defeated the Akkadian army of King Ur-Utu around 2150 BC and held power in Sumer for less than 100 years.
The Guti came from the Zagros mountains and down to the Tigris in Kurdistan and had their own language and script, unrelated to neighbouring ones. They seem to be mysterious. Some consider them the ancestors of modern Kurds.
The Assyrian Period 1350-612 BC
A Gutian inscription
Tribes of Semitic migrants who arrived in the region from the Levant during the 10th C BC known as the Chaldeans or the Chaldees
In the bottom right of this old map, you can see the Persian Gulf.
King Sennacherib of Assyria, 705 – 681 BC Babylonian wars, also fought Judah relief from his palace in Nineveh. He had a wonderful garden made for his wife.
ASSYRIAN
WARS
With the Chaldeans
652 B.C
to 612 BC
And more wars, list?Shalmaneser III
Senecherib, son of above
Sennacherib's Annals known as the Taylor Prism. A heavy book!
Cyrus the Great 600 or 576 – 530 BC
Nebuchadnezzar 2nd, King of the Chaldeans 605 – 562 BCHad the "Hanging Gardens of Babylon," built, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, for his wife in Mesopotamia. It is
known they were irrigated, but not how. Perhaps, as in this image from an aqueduct.
The Battle of GaugamelaAlexander the Great defeated Darius III of Persia
in 331 BC., about 100km west of Arbil. After the battle, Darius escaped to Arbela.
Semitic languages
spoken in the 1st century AD
Aramaic is still spoken
by the Christians of the region
today
These fragments of wall-paintings from the harem baths at Jawsaq al-Khaqani provide a glimpse of important early examples of figurative art in the Islamic world. Of Caliph al-Muasim in Samarra, where the walls of the palaces were painted with large scenes of hunters, dancers, and drinkers. The palaces were also decorated with carved wooden panels and stucco (plaster).
Harem girls were often highly trained in singing, music and literature and it was potentially an attractive career for a woman of humble origins.
British Museum
Samarra, Iraq,
9th century AD
Ottoman State &EmpireThe Ottoman State in today’s Turkey under the Osman dynasty 1300 ADExpansion and apogee 1453–1566Much change 1556–1683The Sultanate of women 1648–1656Decline and modernization 1828–1908
Yezidis on Sinja Mountain 1920s. It’s a holy place. They believe their founder, Tawûsê Melek (the Peacock Angel) was created by God before Adam and they believe in reincarnation.
POLITICAL EVENTS IN KURDISTANin the 20th CenturyDrawn from book:
“Invisible Nation” by Quil Lawrence, pub 2008 and the BBC website
PS. The Kurds are not Arabs. They are thought to be the ancestors of the
Caucasians, European white people.
• 1917 Britain seizes Baghdad.• 1918 With the end of the Ottoman Empire and the 1st War, British forces hold oil-rich Mosul. • 1919 The new Iraqi state takes Mosul province under British mandate. Sheikh Mahmoud Barzinji rebels against
British and claims title of king of Kurdistan. Brits quickly exile him to India.• 1920 Britain creates the state of Iraq, with League of Nations approval. Iraqi revolution against British rule.
Treaty of Sevres: signed by defeated Ottoman government with a referendum on Kurdish independence.• 1921 Emir Faisal crowned the first king of Iraq. Continuing unrest.• 1922 Sheik Mahmoud returned to power by British. He again claims kingship and then fights British!• 1923 International community rejects Treaty of Sevres. • 1924 British retake Sulimaniya.• 1932 Uprising led by Sheik Ahmed Barzani for Kurdish autonomy.• Iraq becomes independent of British mandate. In world war 2 Britain reoccupies Iraq.• 1943 Uprising led by Mulla Mustafa Barzani, captures parts of Erbil & Badinan. • 1946 KDP (Kurdish Democratic Party) holds 1st congress in Mahabad with Soviet support.
Mulla Mustafa Barzani commands armed forces.• 1947 Mahabs Republic falls under attack from Iran. Barzani flees to Soviet Union.• 1951 KDP holds 2nd congress, led by Ibrahim Ahmad. M Barzani remains president though in Soviet Union.• 1958 Military coup (July 14th) expels monarchy. Qassim becomes prime minister and declares Iraq a republic,
Mullah Mustafa Barzani returns from Soviet Union.• 1961 Barzani pushes for Kurdish rebellion against Baghdad• 1963 Qassim overthrown by Ba’athist coup in February. In November Ba’athists expelled by Arif and fellow
officers.• 1968 Ba’athists regain power by a coup. Gen Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr is president. Saddam Hussein is vice-
president, gaining power. • 1970 Kurds get a peace agreement with Iraq and autonomy.
Kurds are Iraq’s second nationality, with language and cultural rights. Status of Kirkuk unresolved.• 1971 Barzani survives several “exploding Imams”. Appeals for US aid through Iran.• 1972 Iraq aligns with Soviet Union and nationalises the oil industry.• 1974 Mullah Mustafa Barzani rejects Baghdad autonomy offer. Rebellion.• 1975 Algiers Accord between Iran & Iraq which ends Iranian support for Kurdish uprising, which collapses.
Barzani flees to US for medical treatment. Mam Jalal Talabani establishes the PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) from Damascus, breaking from KDP.
• 1978 clashes between KDP and PUK.• 1979 Mullah Mustafa Barzani dies of cancer in the US. His son Masoud Barzani takes over.
Saddam Hussein formalises absolute power in Baghdad.• 1980 Iran-Iraq war begins. KDP helps Iran on Iraqi northern border. PUK negotiates with Baghdad.
• 1983 KDP supported by Iranian attack. Saddam Hussein has 8,000 men from Barzan region executed in revenge. PUK opens a ceasefire and negotiates with Baghdad for autonomy.
• 1984 in Turkey Kurdish civilians attacked. 35,000 killed, and 1.5 million displaced over the following 15 years.• 1985 Turkey intervenes to stop negotiations between PUK & Baghdad. • 1986 KDP & PUK unify against Baghdad as Kurdistan Front, with Iranian support. • 1988 Saddam Hussein begins “Anfal” campaign against the Kurds with his cousin Ali Hassa al-Majid in charge.
Systematic killing and destruction of villages, chemical attacks like Halabjah. Between 50 & 100,000 Kurds die, mainly civilians
• 1990 Iraq invades Kuwait.• 1991 US leads coalition against Iraq, routed from Kuwait and surrender.• Kurds and Shi’ites rise against Baghdad regime, brutally suppressed. Many dead, many flee, so Turkey
has to close its border. UN approves US coalition creation of small safe area in NW Iraq. No fly zone in Northern Iraq.
• Kurdistan Front in Dohuk, Erbil & Sulimaniya. Saddam withdrew from Kurdish areas and blockaded them.• 1992 Kurdish elections, government split equally between KDP & PUK (led by Barzani & Talabani.)• 1994 KDP & PUK tension becomes small civil war. Peace agreement signed, soon abandoned.• 1995 Failed coup attempt INC (Iraqi National Congress) • 1996 Another coup attempt by based in Jordan backed by the CIA of US. Foiled by Saddam Hussein. PUK
expelled from Erbil by Iraqi army, approved by Masoud Barzani.• 1997 US provides food to Iraq instead of money for oil. Kurdistan to receive 13%• 1998 Washington Agreement: Talabani & Barzani sign for peace, with KDP based in Erbil and PUK in
Sulimaniya. • 1999 PKK leader captured in Kenya with US help.• Grand Ayatolla Muhammed Sadiq al-Sadar assassinated. • 2001 Report to the US White House on Ansar al-Islam in Kurdish area. They are linked to al-Qa’ida in
Afghanistan.• 2002 Talabani & Barzani go to the US to visit The Farm, a CIA training facility. They are warned of intervention
coming to Iraq.• 2003 Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State speaks to the UN to make a case for US intervention. Turkish
parliament decide not to allow US troops to form a northern against Iraq. The US bomb Iraq, trying to kill Saddam Hussein, who hid. US Coalition forces arrive in Iraq & attack Islamist groups including Komala Islami & Ansar al-Islam. They put rotating Iraqi presidents in place, including Talabani & Barzani. Many attacks made and Saddam Hussein was arrested.
• 2004 Suicide bombings of KDP & PUK offices in Erbil, and at Shi’ite festivals. Hundreds were killed. US Marines attack Fallujah twice after four American contactors were attacked.
• 2005 More suicide bombings. Jalal Talabani becomes Kurdish president, quickly followed by Masoud Barzani. Two Iraqi elections. Saddam Hussein tried for crimes against humanity. A Norwegian company starts drilling for oil in Kurdistan.
• 2006 A Shi’ite mosque in Samarra is bombed, which starts a war.• Elections again, Jalal Talabani was president again, Nuriel al-Maliki was prime minister. Many die in violence
including car bombs. Saddam Hussein in hung.• 2007 President Bush of the US announces an increase of troops in Baghdad. Car and truck bombs. UK
finally withdraws from Iraq.• 2008 Prime Minister Maliki orders crackdown on militia in Basra, sparking pitched battles with Moqtada Sadr's
Mehdi Army. Hundreds are killed.• 2009 US President Barack Obama announces withdrawal of most US troops by end of August 2010. Up to
50,000 of 142,000 troops now there will stay on into 2011.• Masoud Barzani is president.• 2010 November/December - Parliament reconvenes after long delay, re-appoints Jalal Talabani as president and
Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister. The new government includes all major factions. • 2011 February - Oil exports from Iraqi Kurdistan resume. December - US completes troop pull-out.
(undercover troops remain to this day, 2014) Unity government in disarray. • 2012 Bomb and gun attacks target Shia areas. Around 600 people are killed. Mass rallies by Sunni Muslims
against what they see as marginalisation by the Shia-led government.• 2013 Government troops storm a Sunni anti-government protest camp near Kirkuk. More than 50 die, it
prompts clashes in other towns. The insurgency intensifies, with levels of violence matching those of 2008. Iraq is described as being in a full-blown sectarian war zone once again.
• At least 500 prisoners, mainly senior al-Qaeda members, escape from Taji and Abu Ghraib jails in a mass breakout. Mass killing at Camp Ashraf housing Iranian exiles - members of the People's Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran.
• Regional parliamentary elections in Iraqi Kurdistan, won by KDP. • Bombings in Erbil in the first such attack since 2007. Al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq (IS formerly ISIS)
was responding to alleged Iraqi Kurdish support for Kurds fighting jihadists in Syria.• Government says October was deadliest month since April 2008, with 900 killed. By the year-end the UN
estimates the 2013 death toll of civilians as 7,157 - a dramatic increase in the previous year's figure of 3,238.• At least 35 people killed in twin bombing of Baghdad churches on Christmas Day.• 2014 Islamists fight government forces. ISIS seize Mosul, calls itself IS and declares a Caliphate. 10s of
thousands flee. • Prime Minister al-Maliki's coalition wins a plurality at first parliamentary election since 2011. US returns to
Kurdistan to support Peshmerga (Kurdish army) • Kurdish president Barzani announces a referendum on independence from Iraq. • In September Shia politician Haider al-Abad forms a broad-based government for Iraq, including Sunni Arabs and
Kurds. • US announces new strategy against Islamic State, carries out air raids in support of Iraqi Army near Baghdad.
International conference in Paris, including ten Sunni Arab states but excluding Iran and Syria, agrees to support strategy.
In 1970, the parliament of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region was established in Erbil but was controlled by Saddam Hussein until 1991 at the end of the Gulf War.
From 2005 the Iraqi constitution recognized the Kurdistan Regional Government. An agreement was signed to unify the administration of the entire Kurdish region in Erbil.
Erbil Citadel was included as a World Heritage Site on June 21st 2014.
• There is now no postal service, dwellings do not even have addresses.
• No cash points, credit cards can only be used inside banks. Cash is necessary.
• No health service. There are good schools.• No freedom of information
3rd millennium AD (IRIN news)
December 2011 US troops exit Iraq after more than eight years of occupation, leaving behind a government led by Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Sunnis and Kurds also hold key positions but Sunnis claim from the offset they are marginalized.
July 2013 Several fatal clashes between demonstrators and Iraq Security Force; bomb attacks become more frequent.
December 2013. Al-Maliki orders the arrest of Ahmed Al-Alwani, an influential Sunni member of parliament.
3 July 2014 Iraq is experiencing one of the largest internal population displacements in the world
See the IRIN (UN) report on how this situation has escalated:--
http://www.irinnews.org/report/95999/briefing-why-is-iraq-still-so-dangerous
OILThe middle east holds 60% of the worlds oil reserves & 41% of gas. Oil formed from life under the sea in the Jurassic and Cretaceous, & accumulated in the Zagros deformation, salt domed deposits helped trap it.
it’s easy to extract. In 2011 oil accounted for 97% of Iraq government revenue. Kurdistan has exported oil since 2012, not through the Iraqi government.
The Citadel has been found to date back at least 7k years, perhaps as much 10,000 years
STILL TO INSERT:Returning to land, where we went, Mark’s
pic of bestun’s cousin. and being in Erbil, citadel pic – long history.
These caves, west of Suleimani have been used for millennia. Kurds used them to hide from the genocide Saddam Hussein’s Anfal campaign 1986-9.
This land is the Garden of Eden
Continual Ferment! This cradle of civilisation, this womb of nations, this
centre of invention, has a special high energy that inspires and stimulates, to creativity, to invention & to protective aggression. The deep beauty can be found in many places, here is something deeper and more intense that cannot be grasped or defined. Yet it must be real and physical and have been so active for millennia.
If we understood it, it would be sold in bottles, which cannot be!
It is an unfathomable and sacred mystery.
Makeshift camps have been set up in central Erbil, capital of Iraq’s Kurdish region. Cathy Otten IRIN News.
September 2014
SHOULD I ADDMore on today’s politics?
