Dr. Floyd: Nowhere are the Winds of Change more Noticeable than Here in Sulaimani

Dr. Floyd while signing a book 

Dr. Randall Floyd, a professor of American History at the American University of Iraq-Sulaimani, writes an op-ed to a local newspaper at his hometown back in U.S. 


Dr. Floyd points out to the historical importance of the "Lands between Two Rivers".


"It was south of here that the mighty biblical kingdoms of Ur and Babylon once flourished, followed by the powerful Assyrians who ruled from their legendary capital cities of Nineveh, Khorsabad and Ashur along the Tigris," he wrote. 


The changes in costume between the older and the younger generations has caught Dr. Floyd's attention. 


"While Kurdish men still dress in traditional baggy pants and head-scarves and womenfolk flutter about in long black robes and veils, most young people -- certainly those on campus -- prefer tight-fitting jeans and T-shirts," he noted. "But the old world is never far away either, from the quiet corners of the bazaar downtown to mud-walled villages and farmsteads out in the hinterlands. BMWs and gleaming new SUVs jockey for highway space with donkey-drawn wagons and carts."


The sympathy felt by Kurds towards George W. Bush, former U.S. president, seems to be good news for Dr. Floyd. 


"The affection most Kurds feel for Bush seems boundless -- a fact that's often overlooked by the Western media. They lionize Bush because he liberated them from the iron clutches of Saddam and his diabolical scheme to bulldoze their villages and eradicate their way of life from the earth," he stated in his article published on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2011. 


Dr. Floyd ends his article with a hope. 
While Cairo, Tunis and other parts of the Arab world erupt in chaos, there is good reason to hope that democracy will triumph over tyranny here in this ancient land of caliphs and conquerors," he wrote. 


To read the op-ed written by Dr. Floyd, click The Augustus Chronicle .