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Chillicothe Doctor Worried About His Native Kurdistan
By: Fred Kight
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The war in Iraq is over but Dr. Haval Saadlla is still worried.
Saadlla now lives in Chillicothe but his thoughts are often with his native country.
He is from the northern part of Iraq, which, he points out, is mostly independent from the central government.
"U.S. involvement was very helpful for Kurdish people and we are very friendly with U.S.", he says.
Saadlla is "sad" that the U. S. is gone from Iraq "because their presence was very helpful and they left and (that) will open a lot of questions."
Here in the United States some think we left Iraq too soon, while others feel the war was unjustified.
Saadlla wishes we had left a base open and a military presence in Kurdistan.
"We are worried that America left", he says, noting that Kurdistan is surrounded by Iran, Turkey and Syria, and that the Iraq central government "is really not very friendly."
Saadlla and a fellow doctor from Adena Health System recently traveled to northern Iraq on a medical mission.
More about that in a special, upcoming report on WOUB.