Girl Power: An Irregular Warfare Podcast about Kick Ass Kurdish Women

Over the weekend I had a good bit of windshield time which allowed me to get caught up on some podcasts and here is one that I could not more highly recommend. It tells  the story of the Kurdish Women’s Protection Units and how they were a key element in the fight against ISIS in Syria. From the Irregular Warfare program description:

Episode 28 of the Irregular Warfare Podcast explores the story of the Kurdish Women’s Protection Units through the lens of the New York Times best-selling book The Daughters of Kobani. Our guests discuss the impetus for US intervention in Syria, the nature of the US relationship with the Syrian Kurds, and the efficacy of an approach that capitalized on US airpower in support of local ground forces. Both of our guests draw upon extensive professional experience in Syria to contextualize the rise and fall of the Islamic State by introducing us to the YPJ, an all female militia integrated into the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, which were integral to contributing to the fall of ISIS.

This podcast seeks to answer these questions:

How did the United States leverage local partners in the fight against the Islamic State? What were the unique dynamics of partnering with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, particularly the Women’s Protection Units? What can this case teach us about warfare, will, and relationships?

In this episode, New York Times best seller Gayle Tzemach Lemmon author of The Daughters of Kobani:  A Story of Rebellion, Courage, and Justice, teams up with Retired General Joseph Votel to discuss her book and his experience as the commander of US Special Operations Command and Joint Special Operations Command. It is definitely worth you time and if you haven’t already done so, you should subscribe to the Irregular Warfare Podcast!

The Gayle Tzemach Lemmon’s website describes the book as follows:

In 2014, northeastern Syria might have been the last place you would expect to find a revolution centered on women’s rights. But that year, an all-female militia faced off against ISIS in a little town few had ever heard of: Kobani. By then, the Islamic State had swept across vast swaths of the country, taking town after town and spreading terror as the civil war burned all around it. From that unlikely showdown in Kobani emerged a fighting force that would wage war against ISIS across northern Syria alongside the United States. In the process, these women would spread their own political vision, determined to make women’s equality a reality by fighting–house by house, street by street, city by city–the men who bought and sold women.

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