Kurds remain biggest winners from US-led invasion of Iraq

Iraqi Kurds celebrate Nowruz, a Persian New Year, in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq, Monday, March 20, 2023. The Kurdish in Iraq region won de facto self-rule in 1991 when the United States imposed a no-fly zone over it in response to Saddam's brutal repression of Kurdish uprisings. With American invasion 20 years ago much of Iraq fell into chaos, as occupying American forces fought an insurgency and as multiple political and sectarian communities vied to fill the power vacuum left in Baghdad. But the Kurds, seen as staunch allies of the Americans, strengthened their political position and courted foreign investments. (AP Photo/Hawre Khalid, Metrography)