Schofield: It is a land of martyrs, heroes, warriors. Like Mustafa Barzani, whose name the Kurds would swear by as others swore by God.
In the mountains and the valleys of Northern Iraq, memories of how he led the first, great struggle for an independent Kurdish state, and how he was betrayed, survive intact. As do the chain of fortresses which the Iraqis built to stop him.
Now it seems that history and the Kurds themselves have betrayed that dream once more.
Music cont.
Schofield: A Kurdish family is going home. Like hundreds of others, they're returning to the city of Airbil, newly liberated by the fighters of the Kurdish Democratic Party, the KDP, led by old Barzani's son, Massoud.
But today, the vanquished are not Iraqi troops, but another Kurdish faction, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the PUK.
Araz Omar and her daughter, Tavga, fled Airbil when the city was taken over by the PUK last year.
But there's been a price to pay - collaboration with the Kurds arch-enemy Saddam Hussein.
Schofield: During the capture of Airbil, the KDP fought alongside the forces of Saddam Hussein, do they feel happy about that?
Araz Omar: I have nothing good to say about Saddam. Schofield: You don't like him?
Tavga: No, I don't. No, we don't want the Iraqi government to return because we are still Kurds.
Schofield: What's going to stop him if he wants to come back?
Araz Omar: We'll suffer again and become refugees.
Schofield: Arriving at their house is a poignant moment.
Woman: Don't let the chickens escape. Take this upstairs, but be careful, don't break it.
Schofield: But relief at getting home is mixed with feelings of surprise and shock. Everything they left behind has gone, taken by the PUK when they fled Airbil ahead of KDP Peshmergas and Iraqi tanks.
Araz Omar: Nothing is left. There was an electricity meter on the wall. Not even the light bulbs are here. Everything is gone.
Schofield: It's a strange city they've returned to. Armed men in the baggy pants and the jemadani headdress of the KDP Peshmerga throng the streets, until recently controlled by the PUK. In the market, goods are out on sale again.
The Kurds have a strong self-image. A painted Kurdish mountain provides a far more satisfying background for a photograph than Airbil's streets.
They may not say so publicly but most are desperately fearful that Saddam will win out in the end, not them.
Even those closest to Barzani distrust Saddam intensely.
Schofield: Do you feel safe with Saddam Hussein?
Salem: What are the reasons for feeling safe with him? No.
Schofield: Massoud Barzani, the leader of the KDP knows that too. But the way he sees it, turning to the Kurds' worst enemy made sense and he accuses his rivals, the PUK of putting the Kurdish in mortal danger by trying to replace oppression by Iraq, with subjugation by Iran.
Barzani: We have been telling the Americans that there is this plan and that our existence is threatened. We wanted their policy and attitude towards us to be clear, but we didn't receive any answer. So we told them - if you are not providing protection for us, then we are free to find any other solution or take any other steps necessary. So I can't be more open with the Americans than that.
Schofield: And Barzani suggests the United States is not really interested in the fate of Kurdish, but only in its struggle with Saddam Hussein.
Schofield: Mr. Barzani, I'm curious to know, was it a difficult decision for you personally to invite Saddam Hussein to assist you in your fight against the PUK?
Barzani: If America and the West are serious, and will continue to support us and provide protection, and help to find a dramatic solution to the Kurdish question, then let them come and do that.
But if the Kurdish people are being annihilated with the help of Talibani and foreign powers, we will not accept it. It was a very easy decision. And I don't regret it.
Schofield: But he's playing with fire. And it's a measure of the gamble that he's taken. Airbil few kilometres beyond a, it's possible to see just how close the Iraqi's are.
Schofield: Beneath the defiance, there's great uncertainty, and the reason's over there. Iraqi troops are positioned on the hills above the Kurdish town of Kalak and the people who live here, live under the shadow of Iraqi guns.
Iraq's army may be half the size it was before the Gulf War but it's probably still strong enough to walk into Kurdistan at any time it wants.
But Saddam has other means than troops like these to re-establish his control of Kurdistan.
Iraq's decision to normalise relations with the north and end it's embargo after the KDP's military's success has made life easier in some ways.
But it has also made things simpler for his secret police.
Colonel Kadhim: The Iraqi secret police are still in the city today with an even greater presence than before. Since the decision of the Iraqi Command Council to lift restrictions between Kurdistan and Iraq, such elements have poured in.
Schofield: Do you think there is Iraqi intelligence in this city and in all the cities of Kurdistan?
Colonel Kadhim: Yes, throughout Kurdistan.
Schofield: About two hundred members of Iraq's internal opposition have taken refuge in this compound, in a town just north of Airbil. Scores were executed by Saddam's secret police when the city fell - these men are paralysed by fear.
And for that reason, they conceal their identity from us as well. All that is, except one woman. She says that Iraqi intelligence took away her husband and she has no idea where he is now.
Schofield: Do you think that the safe haven for the Kurds now is over and that Saddam Hussein effectively controls the whole of Northern Iraq?
Colonel Kadhim: I believe that Saddam controls all Kurdistan.
Barzani: The first day of the fighting when the situation was abnormal there was a group of Iraqi security who were able to go into the city. For those who allege there are Iraqi intelligence agents in the city. Let them tell us and we will be grateful and we will send out people to arrest them.
Schofield: In a small house in Airbil, a man who's worked with U.S. companies, we'll call him 'Mohammed' is packing his bags and getting out. He has no faith in Barzani's guarantees and he's noted that the amnesty offered by Saddam Hussein does not extend to Kurds who've worked for foreigners.
The KDP would call him an economic refugee. But after 20 years of fighting for Kurdish rights, Mohammed says he's a patriot.
Mohammed: I don't like to go out and I put all my energy in my country. I could go out very easily at any time. But I didn't want to do that. I wanted to be in my country and to be part of the rebuilding of my country and to be part of the re-establishment of my country but I think these hopes are gone.
Schofield: So what's going to happen to the Kurds now?
Mohammed: They will be facing a terrible life with Saddam Hussein again. And I don't see any light of hope in the next, at least, few years.
Schofield: A group of UN soldiers, stationed in Iraq is speeding towards the border with Iran. They're on their way to collect four relief workers who were abducted in an area still controlled by the PUK. We're following behind, because we hope to get to speak to the PUK.
Schofield: We need to speed up a bit.
Schofield: It's road that takes us eastwards from Airbil, through the town of Qal'at Diza to within one kilometre of the border with Iran.
Schofield: Do you think we can go there?
Schofield: First though, there is a meeting with the local warlord, the KDP commander, who must give the UN guards permission to proceed to the point where the missing staff are going to be handed back.
Colonel Dahl: But we can proceed along the road without being hit by shells?
Schofield: The UN Guard Commander, Colonel Dahl, puts in a request for us as well.
Man: These people are now your responsibility.
Schofield: When the captives have been returned, safe and well, they're whisked away and we're permitted to continue up the last, few winding kilometres in a UN car to meet the PUK.
These are the hardliners, this mountain refuge, their last toehold in Iraqi Kurdistan. And they say, they will not go back because of what they call the unholy alliance of Saddam Hussein and Massoud Barzani, their Kurdish rival.
Kassim: Barzani and Saddam, like that. Friends.
Schofield: One question - Saddam Hussein and Barzani - like that?
Man: Yes.
Schofield: You, PUK - Iran - like that?
Men: No, no.
Schofield: They're angry and confused - and bitter at the West. They cannot understand why, when Airbil was attacked, the West did nothing but destroy a handful of radar installation sites and missile batteries, hundreds of kilometres further south.
Schofield: Do you think the West is going to help you?
Man: No. There's no help and we don't know why there's no help.
Schofield: And you need help?
Man: Yes, of course we need help.
Schofield: Once again it seems the mountains are somewhere for Kurdish people to escape to. Equally, it's clear there's little future for this band of men and boys - unless Iran steps in.
But for Saddam Hussein, a house divided could mean an open door. Kurdish memories are keen of the other times Saddam Hussein has exercised his might in Kurdistan.
And particularly in one town, not far from Qal'at Diza.
The damage still looks as if it was inflicted yesterday. But it wasn't the high-explosive bombs that tore so deeply ta the Kurdish soul. It's the memory of the day, eight years ago, when Saddam sent his airforce to attack Halabje with chemical weapons.
Atiya Mohammed Abdurahman lost her son that day - one of more than five thousand people who did not escape. Her neighbour, Midia Abdullh, lost both her parents. Those who died are buried on the slopes below the mountains.
Schofield: It's been eight years since the town of Halabje experienced the horrors of a poison gas attack, a collective punishment for daring to oppose Saddam Hussein.
Almost everyone still living here has lost at least one member of their family. But they say they're ready to fight again, to die if necessary for what they want.
Last year the leaders of Halabje set up a monument to commemorate the people who were killed - despite the horrors of the past, you'd go far to find a Kurd expressing outward feelings of despair - the wounds re buried deep inside. And in the shattered lives of the survivors.
Schofield: Do you think that the fighting between the two Kurdish factions has made Kurdistan much weaker now and that Saddam Hussein will try to regain control of this area completely.
Woman: The factions plot against each other and poor people suffer and die. How would I know why? We thought Saddam was gone and we'd have a better life under Kurdish control. But after all this faction fighting, sometiems we may wish that Saddam was still here.
Schofield: Settling back into life in Airbil, Araz Omar and her family have been working to put their house in order once again. For her the KDP's military success has meant a return to familiar surroundings. She's been picking up the threads with neighbours, relatives ...
Her husband, Hassan Ali, a KDP Peshmerga, has joined her now at home. She should be happy, but she's not.
Schofield: You know that the Iraqi troops are only half an hour's drive away from Airbil. Are you worried by that?
Araz Omar: Oh, by God. We are afraid.
Schofield: And does the same go for you, sir?
Hassan Ali: How can I be afraid at my age? For thirty years, I've been a freedom fighter. (Peshmerga). Peshmerga. Peshmerga
Schofield: Courage, pride - are qualities the Kurdish people have to spare. But historically, the Kurds have had no friends. If they're their own worst enemy as well, courage may not be enough to save them in the future.
In the mountains and the valleys of Northern Iraq, memories of how he led the first, great struggle for an independent Kurdish state, and how he was betrayed, survive intact. As do the chain of fortresses which the Iraqis built to stop him.
Now it seems that history and the Kurds themselves have betrayed that dream once more.
Music cont.
Schofield: A Kurdish family is going home. Like hundreds of others, they're returning to the city of Airbil, newly liberated by the fighters of the Kurdish Democratic Party, the KDP, led by old Barzani's son, Massoud.
But today, the vanquished are not Iraqi troops, but another Kurdish faction, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the PUK.
Araz Omar and her daughter, Tavga, fled Airbil when the city was taken over by the PUK last year.
But there's been a price to pay - collaboration with the Kurds arch-enemy Saddam Hussein.
Schofield: During the capture of Airbil, the KDP fought alongside the forces of Saddam Hussein, do they feel happy about that?
Araz Omar: I have nothing good to say about Saddam. Schofield: You don't like him?
Tavga: No, I don't. No, we don't want the Iraqi government to return because we are still Kurds.
Schofield: What's going to stop him if he wants to come back?
Araz Omar: We'll suffer again and become refugees.
Schofield: Arriving at their house is a poignant moment.
Woman: Don't let the chickens escape. Take this upstairs, but be careful, don't break it.
Schofield: But relief at getting home is mixed with feelings of surprise and shock. Everything they left behind has gone, taken by the PUK when they fled Airbil ahead of KDP Peshmergas and Iraqi tanks.
Araz Omar: Nothing is left. There was an electricity meter on the wall. Not even the light bulbs are here. Everything is gone.
Schofield: It's a strange city they've returned to. Armed men in the baggy pants and the jemadani headdress of the KDP Peshmerga throng the streets, until recently controlled by the PUK. In the market, goods are out on sale again.
The Kurds have a strong self-image. A painted Kurdish mountain provides a far more satisfying background for a photograph than Airbil's streets.
They may not say so publicly but most are desperately fearful that Saddam will win out in the end, not them.
Even those closest to Barzani distrust Saddam intensely.
Schofield: Do you feel safe with Saddam Hussein?
Salem: What are the reasons for feeling safe with him? No.
Schofield: Massoud Barzani, the leader of the KDP knows that too. But the way he sees it, turning to the Kurds' worst enemy made sense and he accuses his rivals, the PUK of putting the Kurdish in mortal danger by trying to replace oppression by Iraq, with subjugation by Iran.
Barzani: We have been telling the Americans that there is this plan and that our existence is threatened. We wanted their policy and attitude towards us to be clear, but we didn't receive any answer. So we told them - if you are not providing protection for us, then we are free to find any other solution or take any other steps necessary. So I can't be more open with the Americans than that.
Schofield: And Barzani suggests the United States is not really interested in the fate of Kurdish, but only in its struggle with Saddam Hussein.
Schofield: Mr. Barzani, I'm curious to know, was it a difficult decision for you personally to invite Saddam Hussein to assist you in your fight against the PUK?
Barzani: If America and the West are serious, and will continue to support us and provide protection, and help to find a dramatic solution to the Kurdish question, then let them come and do that.
But if the Kurdish people are being annihilated with the help of Talibani and foreign powers, we will not accept it. It was a very easy decision. And I don't regret it.
Schofield: But he's playing with fire. And it's a measure of the gamble that he's taken. Airbil few kilometres beyond a, it's possible to see just how close the Iraqi's are.
Schofield: Beneath the defiance, there's great uncertainty, and the reason's over there. Iraqi troops are positioned on the hills above the Kurdish town of Kalak and the people who live here, live under the shadow of Iraqi guns.
Iraq's army may be half the size it was before the Gulf War but it's probably still strong enough to walk into Kurdistan at any time it wants.
But Saddam has other means than troops like these to re-establish his control of Kurdistan.
Iraq's decision to normalise relations with the north and end it's embargo after the KDP's military's success has made life easier in some ways.
But it has also made things simpler for his secret police.
Colonel Kadhim: The Iraqi secret police are still in the city today with an even greater presence than before. Since the decision of the Iraqi Command Council to lift restrictions between Kurdistan and Iraq, such elements have poured in.
Schofield: Do you think there is Iraqi intelligence in this city and in all the cities of Kurdistan?
Colonel Kadhim: Yes, throughout Kurdistan.
Schofield: About two hundred members of Iraq's internal opposition have taken refuge in this compound, in a town just north of Airbil. Scores were executed by Saddam's secret police when the city fell - these men are paralysed by fear.
And for that reason, they conceal their identity from us as well. All that is, except one woman. She says that Iraqi intelligence took away her husband and she has no idea where he is now.
Schofield: Do you think that the safe haven for the Kurds now is over and that Saddam Hussein effectively controls the whole of Northern Iraq?
Colonel Kadhim: I believe that Saddam controls all Kurdistan.
Barzani: The first day of the fighting when the situation was abnormal there was a group of Iraqi security who were able to go into the city. For those who allege there are Iraqi intelligence agents in the city. Let them tell us and we will be grateful and we will send out people to arrest them.
Schofield: In a small house in Airbil, a man who's worked with U.S. companies, we'll call him 'Mohammed' is packing his bags and getting out. He has no faith in Barzani's guarantees and he's noted that the amnesty offered by Saddam Hussein does not extend to Kurds who've worked for foreigners.
The KDP would call him an economic refugee. But after 20 years of fighting for Kurdish rights, Mohammed says he's a patriot.
Mohammed: I don't like to go out and I put all my energy in my country. I could go out very easily at any time. But I didn't want to do that. I wanted to be in my country and to be part of the rebuilding of my country and to be part of the re-establishment of my country but I think these hopes are gone.
Schofield: So what's going to happen to the Kurds now?
Mohammed: They will be facing a terrible life with Saddam Hussein again. And I don't see any light of hope in the next, at least, few years.
Schofield: A group of UN soldiers, stationed in Iraq is speeding towards the border with Iran. They're on their way to collect four relief workers who were abducted in an area still controlled by the PUK. We're following behind, because we hope to get to speak to the PUK.
Schofield: We need to speed up a bit.
Schofield: It's road that takes us eastwards from Airbil, through the town of Qal'at Diza to within one kilometre of the border with Iran.
Schofield: Do you think we can go there?
Schofield: First though, there is a meeting with the local warlord, the KDP commander, who must give the UN guards permission to proceed to the point where the missing staff are going to be handed back.
Colonel Dahl: But we can proceed along the road without being hit by shells?
Schofield: The UN Guard Commander, Colonel Dahl, puts in a request for us as well.
Man: These people are now your responsibility.
Schofield: When the captives have been returned, safe and well, they're whisked away and we're permitted to continue up the last, few winding kilometres in a UN car to meet the PUK.
These are the hardliners, this mountain refuge, their last toehold in Iraqi Kurdistan. And they say, they will not go back because of what they call the unholy alliance of Saddam Hussein and Massoud Barzani, their Kurdish rival.
Kassim: Barzani and Saddam, like that. Friends.
Schofield: One question - Saddam Hussein and Barzani - like that?
Man: Yes.
Schofield: You, PUK - Iran - like that?
Men: No, no.
Schofield: They're angry and confused - and bitter at the West. They cannot understand why, when Airbil was attacked, the West did nothing but destroy a handful of radar installation sites and missile batteries, hundreds of kilometres further south.
Schofield: Do you think the West is going to help you?
Man: No. There's no help and we don't know why there's no help.
Schofield: And you need help?
Man: Yes, of course we need help.
Schofield: Once again it seems the mountains are somewhere for Kurdish people to escape to. Equally, it's clear there's little future for this band of men and boys - unless Iran steps in.
But for Saddam Hussein, a house divided could mean an open door. Kurdish memories are keen of the other times Saddam Hussein has exercised his might in Kurdistan.
And particularly in one town, not far from Qal'at Diza.
The damage still looks as if it was inflicted yesterday. But it wasn't the high-explosive bombs that tore so deeply ta the Kurdish soul. It's the memory of the day, eight years ago, when Saddam sent his airforce to attack Halabje with chemical weapons.
Atiya Mohammed Abdurahman lost her son that day - one of more than five thousand people who did not escape. Her neighbour, Midia Abdullh, lost both her parents. Those who died are buried on the slopes below the mountains.
Schofield: It's been eight years since the town of Halabje experienced the horrors of a poison gas attack, a collective punishment for daring to oppose Saddam Hussein.
Almost everyone still living here has lost at least one member of their family. But they say they're ready to fight again, to die if necessary for what they want.
Last year the leaders of Halabje set up a monument to commemorate the people who were killed - despite the horrors of the past, you'd go far to find a Kurd expressing outward feelings of despair - the wounds re buried deep inside. And in the shattered lives of the survivors.
Schofield: Do you think that the fighting between the two Kurdish factions has made Kurdistan much weaker now and that Saddam Hussein will try to regain control of this area completely.
Woman: The factions plot against each other and poor people suffer and die. How would I know why? We thought Saddam was gone and we'd have a better life under Kurdish control. But after all this faction fighting, sometiems we may wish that Saddam was still here.
Schofield: Settling back into life in Airbil, Araz Omar and her family have been working to put their house in order once again. For her the KDP's military success has meant a return to familiar surroundings. She's been picking up the threads with neighbours, relatives ...
Her husband, Hassan Ali, a KDP Peshmerga, has joined her now at home. She should be happy, but she's not.
Schofield: You know that the Iraqi troops are only half an hour's drive away from Airbil. Are you worried by that?
Araz Omar: Oh, by God. We are afraid.
Schofield: And does the same go for you, sir?
Hassan Ali: How can I be afraid at my age? For thirty years, I've been a freedom fighter. (Peshmerga). Peshmerga. Peshmerga
Schofield: Courage, pride - are qualities the Kurdish people have to spare. But historically, the Kurds have had no friends. If they're their own worst enemy as well, courage may not be enough to save them in the future.