A Journey Into Iraqi Kurdistan
"You’re gone," Mr. Layton whispered to Saddam’s ghost, "and I’m still here." Mr. Schute
and Mr. Layton, who had been working for the Meridian Health Foundation, both knew of Kurdistan’s cultural riches and friendly people, so they joined forces to create what eventually became Kurdistan Iraq Tours, the only inbound tourism operator in Kurdistan.
Mr. Layton, who now lives in Connecticut, could not join us, but Mr. Schute, still in Erbil, would spend time with us.
Mr. Schute also serves as a senior security adviser to the Kurdish interior ministry and works closely with the Peshmerga, which means "those who face death." More than 100,000 of these Kurdish soldiers — our allies against Saddam and ISIS — manned a nearly impenetrable front riddled with tank ditches and checkpoints
that has kept Kurdistan an enclave of comparative security while much of the rest of Iraq remains too dangerous for tourists.
Today Mr. Schute believes that Kurdistan could be one of the world’s great travel destinations
if people would only stop confusing it with the Iraq they see in the news.
"Everyone said no one will come to Iraq, and I said but they’ll come to ‘the other Iraq!’" Mr. Layton recalled.
Like Mr. Schute and Mr. Layton, he sees something in Kurdistan that would be obvious were it not for the news.
