Kurdiish special forces watch from the back of a pick-up truck during a patrol near Makhmour, Iraq.

Kurdish PDK Peshmurga "Special Forces" soldiers on guard at the U.S. Special Forces safe house in Dohuk. The "Special Forces" are the best of the Peshmurga, the basis for their regular army, and well respected by the U.S. military. They are used by the U.S. military for guard duty all over Iraq.

Captain Marwan Lazgin Ahmed, of the Kurdish Zawita special forces company guarding the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) buildings in Makhmour, Iraq.

Peter Thompson, deputy coordinator of the Dohuk governorate team of the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) on a trip down to Mosul, Iraq, from Dohuk. The pick-up truck belongs to the ICDC (Iraqi Civil Defense Corps), the American trained military for internal security. (David I. Gross)

Cooks at the Kurdish special forces army base in Zawita, near Dohuk, Iraq.

Kurdish special forces soldiers at their Iraqi Civil Defense Corps training base raise a U.S. flag.

An American soldier heads towards a shooting-range target to show an Arab recruit for the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC) how to improve his shooting, at the U.S. Army training base for Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC) at the American army base Q-WEST, near Qayarray, Iraq.

Recruits for the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps stand in formation during basic training. Part of their training is to carry water at all times, since they are not accustomed to the moving in the sun and heat. Only mad dogs and Englishman go out in the midday sun, says the song, and Iraqis normally avoid it when they can.

A Russian-made BKC machine gun is the standard mounted weapon on the back of the pick-up trucks used by Iraqi police and the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps.

ICDC soldiers man a roadblock (TCP in military lingo, or "traffic control point") outside Qayarray, Iraq. They Iraqis learn the basics of running a roadblock at their training camp, and U.S. soldiers guide and protect them while they practice.