In Iraq, former Iowa soldier helping Kurds fight Iran
A former Iowa National Guardsman who returned to Iraq in May to help fight the Islamic State says he’s now facing a different foe: the Iranian army. Ryan O’Leary originally went to north-central Iraq, where he volunteered to help train Kurdish soldiers fighting the extremist group also known as ISIS. But he told The Des Moines […]Tony Leys reports for teh Des Moines Register:
A former Iowa National Guardsman who returned to Iraq in May to help fight the Islamic State says he’s now facing a different foe: the Iranian army. Ryan O’Leary originally went to north-central Iraq, where he volunteered to help train Kurdish soldiers fighting the extremist group also known as ISIS. But he told The Des Moines Register by phone this week that he shifted farther north in July, to work with a Kurdish soldiers trying to hold off Iranian troops along the border between Iraq and Iran. ISIS has captured world attention recently because of its brutality in the region. But O’Leary said he came to believe Iran poses a bigger danger to the Kurds, a minority population he admires and supports.
