They are the largest people group in the world without a homeland of their own. Despised and persecuted the world over, they even call themselves "the people without a friend." Sadaam Hussein tried to wipe them from the face of the earth, killing several hundred thousand of them in the attempt. Their sufferings have become legend.

They are the Kurds, descendants of the ancient Medes best known today from the pages of the Bible -- inhabitants of what the world now calls Northern Iraq.

Yet today the Kurds are rebuilding so brilliantly from war and oppression that even their enemies call it a "miracle." Six star hotels stand where bombs once fell, shopping malls and gleaming schools rise where massacres once occur. National Geographic and Conde Nast have listed modern "Kurdistan" as a "must-see" tourist destination.