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Abstract
This paper attempts to answer the question of the quality of Kurdish leaders discernment in predicting, interpreting, and responding to American foreign policy from the end of World War II until the collapse of the Barzani-led revolt in 1975. The goal of this paper is to establish the geopolitical and personal reasons for Kurdish misinterpretations of U.S. Foreign policy from 1945 to 1975. Specifically, the decision-making of long-time Kurdish leader Mullah Mustafa Barzani will be examined to reveal how both personal and wider socio-political interpretations of U.S. foreign policy led Barzani to make decisions that compromised the livelihoods of Iraqi Kurds. What were Barzanis options? Were his mistakes avoidable?