Crib sheet for Norman Podhoretz: "What's a Kurd?"

After Iraq
by Jeffrey Goldberg
theAtlantic.com
... Just before the “Mission Accomplished” phase of the war, I spoke about Kurd­istan to an audience that included Norman Podhoretz, the vicariously martial neoconservative who is now a Middle East adviser to Rudolph Giuliani. After the event, Podhoretz seemed authentically bewildered. “What’s a Kurd, anyway?” he asked me.

A Kurd you should know: Saladin (Salah al-Dīn Yusuf ibn Ayyub)

Sultan of Egypt and Syria, [Saladin] was a 12th-century Kurdish Muslim political and military leader from Tikrit, Iraq [Saddam's hometown]. At the height of his power the Ayyubid dynasty, which he founded, ruled over Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Hejaz, and Yemen. He is renowned for leading Muslim resistance to the European Crusaders and eventually recapturing Palestine from the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. As such, he remains a widely admired figure in Turk, Arab, Kurdish, and Muslim culture.
...
In July 1187, Saladin captured most of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. On July 4, 1187, he faced at the Battle of Hattin the combined forces Guy of Lusignan, King Consort of Jerusalem, and Raymond III of Tripoli. In the battle alone the Crusader army was largely annihilated by the motivated army of Saladin in what was a major disaster for the Crusaders and a turning point in the history of the Crusades.
...
Hattin and the fall of Jerusalem prompted the Third Crusade, financed in England by a special "Saladin tithe". This Crusade took back Acre. After Richard I ["Lion-Heart"] executed the Muslim prisoners at Acre, Saladin retaliated by killing all Franks captured from August 28 - September 10. ... The armies of Saladin engaged in combat with the rivaling armies of King Richard I of England ["Richard the Lion-Heart"] at the Battle of Arsuf on September 7, 1191 at which Saladin was defeated. Saladin's relationship with Richard was one of chivalrous mutual respect as well as military rivalry; both were celebrated in courtly romances. When Richard was wounded, Saladin offered the services of his personal physician. At Arsuf, when Richard lost his horse, Saladin sent him two replacements. Saladin also sent him fresh fruit with snow, to keep his drinks cold. Richard had suggested to Saladin that his sister could marry Saladin's brother - and Jerusalem could be their wedding gift.

The two came to an agreement over Jerusalem in the Treaty of Ramla in 1192, whereby the city would remain in Muslim hands but would be open to Christian pilgrimages; the treaty reduced the Latin Kingdom to a strip along the coast from Tyre to Jaffa.
[Wikipedia entry, Saladin. Items in square brackets, [...], are editorial insertions.]

A modest proposal: include the story of Saladin & the Crusades when training Iraqi army & police, to help establish and solidify an Iraqi identity.