Democracy in Iraq, the Kurdish view. Brwa Abdulrahman, 26, "nattily turned out in an ivory parka, leather pants and well-applied hair gel," says:

Joining with Iraq ... "is like putting a sixth grader in a class with first graders."

Chope Hamed, a 20-year old Kurdish woman, who, along with her friends, likes to walk around with her "thick, dark hair tumbling over [her] shoulders," looks askance at southern Iraq:

"In the south, you see demonstrations for gasoline, for jobs, and they always hold up signs that say, 'There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet' ... What's the connection between that and jobs or gasoline? We're all Muslims, but their thinking is old."