sábado, 14 de junho de 2014

"The problem is that the Iraqi Army (...) I wasn't committed to the national cause, "Hermione Gee, journalist

Join us from Arbil, the capital of the Kurdish region in northern Iraq, the journalist Hermione Gee. Can you give us some idea about what is happening on the ground? How many people are running?

Hermione Gee, journalist:

Since Monday, we saw approximately 320 000 people displaced internally, fleeing to the Kurdistan region from the city of Mosul. I was at checkpoints on Tuesday and Wednesday, and watched the unimaginable: queues of cars, to lose sight of, people who were trying to cross on foot, people carrying all the belongings they could. The Kurdistan regional government created a makeshift refugee camp, right next to the checkpoint, I also see this refugee camp, very basic, with only a few tents and some water but I am sure that in the next few days they will improve it.

Euronews:

What is the feeling of the people against the Iraqi army? It is said that he fled when he saw the EIIL.

Hermione Gee:

I think people were very shocked because they know that they fled so quickly and without fighting. The Kurdish Peshmerga forces, which I visited yesterday, on the border with EIIL, who control part of Mosul, were laughing about it and saying that the Peshmerga never would because they have higher values, higher bravery than the Iraqi army. The problem is that the Iraqi army was too sectarian. I wasn't committed to the national cause. Many were there just for the paycheck. The Kurds, who have suffered decades of oppression under the regime of Saddam Hussein, don't fight just for the paycheck, but for the Kurdish cause. So, here people feel very proud of the Peshmerga and, like I said, almost boast about how the Iraqi army behaved.

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