Dr. Azar Mirkhan donned the garb of a Kurdish Pesh Merga warrior for the journey into northern Iraq, donning the trademark baggy pantaloons and cummerbund as well as a short woollen jacket that fit snugly over his shirt. He also thoughtfully packed a few extras. Along with his sniper optics and loaded.
45 semiautomatic, he also carried a battle knife concealed in his cummerbund. His M-4 assault rifle was on the back seat, and he had additional clips in the footwell in case things got sticky. “It’s a nasty neighbourhood,” the doctor shrugged.
Fractured Lands: How The Arab World Came Apart
Azar, at 41 years old, exudes the air of a hunter even without his weapons and warrior garb. Aside from his odd, silent loping pace, he also has a habit of tucking his chin and staring from under his heavy lids during conversation, as if he were aiming down the barrel of a rifle. He vaguely resembles a young Johnny Cash, right down to the jet-black pompadour and jutting nose.
The doctor’s mindset, as described in a quote from one of his favourite films, was a perfect fit for the weaponry. While taking a shower in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Eli Wallach is ambushed by a hitman. The would-be assassin, however, instead of shooting Wallach immediately, begins a victorious soliloquy, giving Wallach the opportunity to do so first.
“If you want to shoot, shoot; don’t talk,” Azar said, paraphrasing the film’s famous line. That’s the Kurds right now. It is time to take action, not words.
The doctor wasn’t just playing around with words. On that May day in 2015, we were headed to the site of his worst grief, a location that still tormented him. After slaughtering their way through northern Iraq the year before and easily defeating the much larger Iraqi army, ISIS fighters set their sights on the Kurds.
Azar had foreseen the exact location where ISIS killers would strike, and he had known that tens of thousands of innocent bystanders stood defenceless in their path, but no one had listened to his warnings. He had frantically piled guns into his car and hurried to the rescue, only to reach a point in the road where he realised he had arrived several hours too late. “When asked about that specific day, Azar stated, “It was so evident.
Last Words
I’ve made an effort to write a hopeful, human story with its fair number of heroes. But the final words are an ominous warning. Terrorist acts in Dhaka, Paris, and elsewhere show that the Middle East’s misery and violence have spilled far beyond its borders in recent years. Nearly a million Syrians and Iraqis have fled to Europe as a result. Many Americans now view immigration and terrorism as inextricably linked after mass murderers in San Bernardino and Orlando cited ISIS as an inspiration for their acts of violence.
It’s fitting that the Arab world’s issue can be traced back to the First World War; like that conflict, it’s a regional catastrophe that’s spread rapidly and extensively, with no apparent cause or logic, and influenced events all around the world. In a nutshell, this is a tale of lost possibilities and monumental errors in judgement that have shaped our lives and will do so for years to come. thanks for reading our article Fractured Lands: How The Arab World Came Apart.
