NPR: Dr. Najmaldeen Karim is going back to Iraq to run in the 2010
elections. The Washington D.C.-area neurosurgeon fled his homeland in
1975. Now he's leaving a comfortable life in the U.S. to try for a seat
in the Iraqi parliament representing the Kurds of Kirkuk, one of Iraq's
ethnic flash points.
Iraq is preparing for elections despite increasing violence there. A
bomb struck central Baghdad today, killing at least 18 people. That
comes after yesterdays attacks killed dozens in Baghdad. None of that
is stopping candidates from standing in the national elections that are
planned for March 7th.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
And those
candidates include the man well meet next. He left a comfortable life
in America to run for Iraqs parliament. Hes running in the northern
city of Kirkuk, which sits on a kind of political fault line, between
rival ethnic groups. NPRs Quil Lawrence sent us this story.
