THE MOST HATED PERSON IN THE MOST DANGEROUS CITY IN IRAQ

This Sunday is Iraq's second general election since its liberation/obliteration by US and allied forces in 2003 (remember that?). Vice collaborator Karlos Zurutuza spoke to Khasro Goran, Kurdish Candidate for Mosul, inside the concrete fortress that passes for his party's headquarters.

Vice: Why does everybody hate you so much?
Khasro Goran: Because i'm Kurdish and I represent my people in Mosul. And that's a bad thing?
Kurds are the second biggest ethnic group here, after Arabs. Al Quaida and the Baathists, they don't like that at all.

Al Quaida?
Yeah. But here they're called the Islamic Republic of Irak. The prisons are full of terrorists from Pakistan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia…

And they all want to kill you?
Yes, although it's not just me, but everyone i associate with.

How does your family cope with that?
My wife and kids live in Erbil (Capital of Kurdish Iraq). It's about an hour away. I commute here every day.

I'm guessing you have quite an escort.
Of course.

How many bodyguards do you have?
I don't know exactly. Quite a few.

2? 3? 10?…20?
Between 20 and 25. Yes.

Have you thought of changing jobs?
Hopefully on Sunday i'll be elected to the Iraqi parliament.

Will you be better off in Baghdad?
In terms of security, yes. It's much better there.

By the way, do you think America will pull it's troops out of your country this year?
I doubt it. Unfortunately, the security situation here is very fragile. In any case, Mosul will be the last place they leave.

TEXT AND PHOTO: KARLOS ZURUTUZA