When Ryan O'Leary went to war for the third time, he was expecting to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), the militant group that has captured vast swathes of Iraq and Syria. After serving with the Iowa National Guard in Iraq in 2007-8 and then in Afghanistan in 2010-11, he went back to Iraq earlier this year of his own volition. The intention, he told the Des Moines Register in June, was to train Kurdish soldiers — the Peshmerga — to drive ISIS out of its northern Iraqi strongholds. "ISIS isn't just a fight for them," he said then. "It's a fight for all of us." News Link http://time.com/3999270/american-ryan-oleary-fighting-iraq/

1. IRAQ
Meet the American Who Went to Iraq to Fight ISIS But Ended
Up Taking on Iran Dan Stewart
Aug 24, 2015 Jawdat Ahmed—Paci c Press/Diimex.com
When Ryan O'Leary went to war for the third time, he was expecting to ght the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), the militant group that has captured vast swathes of Iraq
and Syria. After serving with the Iowa National Guard in Iraq in 2007-8 and then in Afghanistan in 2010-11, he went back to Iraq earlier this year of his own volition. The intention, he told
the Des Moines Register in June, was to train Kurdish soldiers — the Peshmerga — to drive ISIS out of its northern Iraqi strongholds. "ISIS isn't just a ght for them," he said then. "It's a
gght for all of us." But the 28-year-old's journey took a slightly different direction once he got to Iraq. Now, O'Leary is patrolling the border between Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan embedded
with a faction of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) deep in the Qandil mountains. And he's training the soldiers not to ght ISIS, but Iranian forces he says are repressing Kurdish
minorities in the region. "I've pretty much changed my view," he tells TIME in a telephone interview. "There's no difference between Iran and ISIS, they do the exact same thing to these
peoplpeople. It's just not reported as much." The KDPI is one of several political organizations representing Iran’s Kurds, an ethnic group of about 7 million people living both in Iran and in the
autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq.The party has been outlawed in the Islamic Republic for decades, as it advocates for greater independence and European-style social democracy.The
unit O’Leary is with patrols the mountainous border ostensibly to defend Kurds against Iranian aggression. So how did O'Leary get involved? He says he felt rootless after returning from
AAfghanistan in 2011, and itched to serve again in some way despite suffering some symptoms of PTSD.“I felt a bit lost when I got back,”he says now.“I didn’t have a purpose.”A Kurdish
translator for his National Guard unit put him in touch with a British former soldier who was training Peshmerga, who gave him some contacts in northern Iraq. Against the advice of his
family — and the U.S. government — he ew out in June. When O'Leary arrived in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, he said he went looking for a Peshmerga unit "that wouldn't allow
meme to get babysat." He met with an official with a faction of the KDPI who convinced him the bigger threat to the region's Kurds was not ISIS, but Iran. "ISIS isn't a permanent threat to
Kurdistan or even the region," O'Leary says. "But the in uence from Iran in this region is getting insanely huge. It's a hardline religious view."
So he teamed up with KDPI soldiers in the border region northeast of Erbil, becoming "basically the rst Westerner they've ever let in," he says. He claims to be teaching the soldiers
tactics picked up from his own days in the military, using what little Kurdish he has picked up; how to mount an ambush, how to observe troop movements, how to give basic rst aid.
His trainees aren't like the battle-hardened Peshmerga, who are ghting ISIS in northern Iraq; there's no rank structure, and the men can be as old as 60.Tensions have indeed been rising
bebetween Iranian Kurds and the regime in recent months. In May, thousands of Iranian Kurds took to the streets in the Iranian city of Mahabad and elsewhere in a series of sometimes
violent protests against the regime. Armed Iranian Kurdish parties threatened to send militia to Tehran if the Islamic Republic wouldn't grant them autonomy. O'Leary claims Iran has
shelled border villages and executed civilians on the border and that Kurdish groups have made raids on Iranian outposts.
He won't talk about current operations but said the troops he is with are "trying to avoid direct con ict." Instead, O'Leary says, the focus is on preparing to defend the border during an
Iranian incursion he believes will come once the U.S. approves a nuclear deal. Without military sanctions the country will nally feel emboldened to crack down on its rebel minorities,
he says. "I think this will escalate to armed con ict, and when it does I'll be there for it." It may not come to that, says Martin van Bruinessen, professor of the comparative study of
cocontemporary Muslim societies at Utrecht University. Although there have been Iranian military incursions into Kurdish areas in the past, he says, the regime has long agreed to forgo
military action on the border so long as Iraqi Kurds prevent Iranian exiles from mounting attacks. As for the pending nuclear deal, "the Iranian Kurds are in fact rather hopeful of a
liberalizing impact," he says.
There's little doubt who is the more serious regional foe, he adds. "The confrontation with ISIS, in which Iranian proxies are playing a signi cant part and Iran's in uence in general appear
to be increasing, represents a more serious threat to the KDPI." So what do the U.S. authorities make of a U.S. citizen inserting himself into a decades-old con ict between Iran and its
Kurdish minorities? Rasheeda Clements, a spokesperson for the State Department, tells TIME that the U.S. government does not support any U.S. citizen traveling to Iraq or Syria to train
soldierssoldiers for the KDPI. "Any private U.S. citizens/civilians who may have traveled to Iraq or Syria to take part in the activities described are neither in support of nor part of U.S. efforts in
the region."
O’Leary says he’ll stay in the country until he feels he has made a difference. His goals are to make the international community aware of the threat posed by Iran to Kurdish minorities,
he says, and to prepare the troops for whatever ghting there is to come. Finally he has a purpose, he says. "I'm not just out here running around with a gun, I'm trying to change things."
1.psd

2. A lthou g h he's theonly W esternerforhu ndreds ofm iles, O 'Leary says he's neverlonely. "To behonest, this is probably oneofthehappiesttim es ofm y life,
hesays. I'm m oreatpeacew ith m yselfthanonany ofm y priordeportm ents. Iu nderstand thereasonI'm herealotofm orethanIdid inA fg hanistan, orIraq.
Jaw datA hm ed—Paci cPress/Diim ex.com
10.psd

3. O 'Leary says hehas beenm oved by thecau seofK u rdish independence. "Thepeopledon'tw antw ar, they w anttheirrig hts restored, hesays,
TheK u rdish parties arestill trying to reach ou tpolitically Jaw datA hm ed—Paci cPress/Diim ex.com
11.psd

4. 2.psd

5. O'LearysaystheK DP-I'sequ ipm en t iscom parabletoU.S.equ ipm en t in theearly1980 san d 90 s.T
hey'rem ostly"old w eapon esthat w ork.hesays, N ot m an ypeoplehavebodyarm or ...Jaw dat Ahm ed— Paci cPress/Diim ex.com
3.psd

6. Su ndow ninthe m ou ntains betw eenIraqiKu rdistanand Iran. "We w ak e atsu nrise and w e g o to sleep atsu ndow npretty m u ch
Jaw datAhm ed— Paci c Press/Diim ex.com
4.psd

7. O 'Leary says theK DP-Isoldiers w erealittlew ary ofhim at rst."Itw as k ind ofaW TFm om entforthem , hesays, They arnotu sed to W esterners helping ou t.
Jaw datA hm ed—Paci c Press/Diim ex.com
5.psd

8. O 'Leary has m adefriends w ith K DPIsoldiers. Hehas learned enou g h SoraniK u rdish to m ak ebasicconversation, ,bu tsom eactivities transcend theu seoflang u ag e
Jaw datA hm ed—Paci cPress/Diim ex.com
6.psd

9. O 'Leary says oneofthebig g estdifferences betw eenU.S.and K DP-Itroops is thelack ofarank stru ctu re.oofficers w illsitdow nand m ak eteaand com m u nicate,
hesays, Ihavem adealotoffriends , Jaw datA hm ed—Paci cPress/Diim ex.com
7.psd

10. O 'Leary says su pplies arelim ited and help inshortsu pply. "Ifyou g etshotou thereyou ju sthopeyou 'llm ak eitto a hospitalintheback ofa tru ck . You 'refou rhou rs from
a frig g ing hospital, Jaw datA hm ed—Paci cPress/Diim ex.com
8.psd

11. O'Leary says he's passing onlessons helearned w hile g hting inIraq in20 0 7-8 and Afg hanistanin20 10 -11.N on-conventional w arfaretechniqu es, hesays,
Som eofthestu fftheU S Arm ey has beenlearning ou there Jaw datAhm ed—Paci cPress/Diim ex.com
9.psd