LINCOLN, Neb. (Legal Newsline)-Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning this week is visiting northern Iraq.
Bruning, along with other politicians and business leaders, is visiting Kurdistan, a relatively autonomous region in the war-ravaged country.
The Republican attorney general and others are there as guests of the Kurdistan Regional Government, which paid for the trip.
"The Kurds and northern Iraq are really the other Iraq," Bruning said in a conference call with reporters. "It's not what you imagine from the U.S."
Bruning has met with Kurdistan's foreign minister, planning minister and agricultural minister, and he planned to meet with the prime minister Thursday.
Speaking from Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish semi-autonomous region, Bruning said it's in America's strategic interest to forge good relations with the Kurds.
"As Americans we certainly need to build relationships around the world with our fellow inhabitants of this planet, and the Kurds are one of the kindest, gentlest people I've ever seen," he said.
Besides, he added, the United States government needs more allies in the troubled region.
"My fear is, with the American elections coming up, if the Democrats win, we will abandon Iraq yet again," Bruning said. "And our allies here in Kurdistan yet again."
From Legal Newsline: Reach reporter Chris Rizo by e-mail at chrisrizo@legalnewsline.com.