IN JUNE, when extremists from the Islamic State (IS) took over
the Iraqi city of Mosul and hurtled south towards Baghdad, the
Kurds in the north reacted with glee. They had no love for IS, a
group which grew out of al-Qaeda in Iraq, later re-emerged in
Syria and now operates in both countries. Indeed IS is
sufficiently vile and disobedient, not to mention power hungry,
that not even al-Qaeda likes it any more. But the Kurds saw its
success as a deserved kick in the teeth for Nuri al-Maliki, the
Shia prime minister. And if the fight with IS broke Iraq into
sectarian pieces, semi-autonomous Kurdistan would achieve long-
dreamed-of independence.  That sentiment disappeared at the
beginning of August when, possibly as a result of resistance to
the south, IS pivoted to take on the Peshmerga, the Kurdish
armed forces. The Peshmerga number at least 120,000 and are
reputed to be Iraq’s best-trained force. Before June IS was
reckoned to have barely more than 10,000 fighters all told,
though “they have doubled or triple