# Erbil and the Kurdish autonomy question

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Erbil and the Kurdish autonomy question," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/erbil-and-the-kurdish-autonomy-question/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*Reading reports that Erbil airport in Iraqi Kurdistan had been targeted twice on the first night of the 2026 war, John Kiriakou drew out the implication: Baghdad had said repeatedly it would take no part in an American attack on Iran, but the Kurds hold autonomy in the north, and the strikes on Erbil suggest they may be supporting the attack independently of the Iraqi government.*

- **What happened:** Erbil International Airport targeted twice overnight; a drone shot down by air defences
- **Baghdad's position:** Said repeatedly it would not participate in any American attack on Iran
- **Iraq's relations with Iran:** "Obviously, it's close to the Iranian government"
- **The complication:** "The Kurds have autonomy in the north"
- **What he inferred:** The Kurds may be supporting US and Israeli action independently of Iraq
- **His phrase for it:** "That's an added little twist here"

**Erbil and the Kurdish autonomy question** is an inference [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) drew live on 28 February 2026 from a single line of wire copy.

Al Jazeera was reporting that Erbil airport in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq had been targeted twice overnight, and that air defences had intercepted and shot down a drone there.[1][2]

## Why he thought it mattered

Kiriakou did not treat it as one more target on a long list. *"The reason that's important is because the Iraqi government has said repeatedly that it would not participate in any American attack on Iran. Obviously, it's close to the Iranian government."*[2]

The complication is constitutional: *"The Kurds have autonomy in the north."*[2]

From which he drew the conclusion. *"What we could be seeing here is the Kurds independently supporting US actions against Iran and allowing the US military, and by extent the Israeli military, to use their base in Erbil to attack Iran. That's an added little twist here."*[2][3]

## The tension it creates

The reading sits uneasily beside Kiriakou's long-standing sympathy for [the Kurds](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kurds), whom he calls generationally pro-American and whose independence he says he supports. Here the same autonomy he would like to see made permanent is the thing that lets a war Iraq has declined to join be run from Iraqi territory.

He did not resolve the tension, and elsewhere in the same war he flatly rejected a viewer's suggestion that the CIA might be preparing the Taliban for a proxy invasion, *"Certainly not the Taliban"*, while declining to extend the same denial to the Kurds.[4]

## See also

- [Kurds](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kurds)
- [2026 Iran war](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/2026-iran-war)
- [Iran strike factions (2026)](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iran-strike-factions-2026)
- [Arming the crazies](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/arming-the-crazies)

## Sources

1. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2026-02-28), at 33:12. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryefwYfcDVY&t=1992s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-28-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
2. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2026-02-28), at 33:43. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryefwYfcDVY&t=2023s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-28-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
3. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2026-02-28), at 34:14. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryefwYfcDVY&t=2054s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-28-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
4. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2026-02-28), at 53:53. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryefwYfcDVY&t=3233s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-28-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/

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