LAT: Northern Iraq seen as next front in war (a third front)

[Rose Siding]

KIRKUK, IRAQ — American officials, regional leaders and residents are increasingly worried that this northern oil-rich city could develop into a third front in the country's civil war just as additional U.S. troops arrive in Baghdad and Al Anbar province as reinforcements for battles there.

Al Qaeda-linked fighters recently have surfaced here, launching a wave of lethal attacks, U.S. and Iraqi officials say.....

If the timetable leading to the referendum is not followed, Kirkuk will be thrust into chaos, said Talabani, the provincial councilman. "It will be a civil war," he said. "Worse than Baghdad, because it will be a battle of ethnicities."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-kirkuk1feb01,0,4232606.story?coll=la-home-world

Last week, we had news that the peshmerga would be asked to fight in Baghdad. They declined-

Kurdish Iraqi soldiers are deserting to avoid the conflict in Baghdad
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2695747

But as far as battle in Kirkuk goes, they're dancing the dance of war. With uniformed US officers. :banghead: -

ALTUN KUPRI, IRAQ — A U.S. Army colonel danced the debka at a garden party in this rural village last month, hand in hand with half a dozen former Kurdish guerrillas.

They were a study in contrasts: Col. Patrick Stackpole with crisp fatigues and a blond buzz cut, pistol strapped to his thigh, stomping along with swarthy peshmerga fighters with thick black mustaches, baggy shirwal pants and Muslim prayer beads.

Stackpole's soldiers, based in nearby Kirkuk, joined in or sat cradling automatic rifles as a military interpreter explained the dual purpose of the dance.

"They do it for a wedding or a ceremony, something like that," he said. "Or when they want to go to war."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-kirkukdispatch1feb01,1,2284984.story?coll=la-headlines-world

And just look what our new dancing partners plan to do- On the 2nd pg of the first article I linked, there's a plan to not only "relocate" the 10s of thousands of Arabs who live in the region, but to buy their voting rights from them. For $19k. American. How's that for a Frankenstein hybrid form of democracy?-

snip>
"I don't believe they have the right to vote in the referendum," said Adnan Mufti, the powerful speaker of Kurdistan's regional parliament. Even Arabs born in Kirkuk to parents who came from the south will be ineligible, he said. "It's the mistake of their fathers."

Bring. Them. Home.

[Stella_Artois]

1. What a thing we have done

Its a new Balkans.

[roamer65]

2. Just wait until Turkey comes across the border.

It's gonna get real messy at that point.

[saigon68]

6. The Turks won't put up with the Kurdish nonsense

They will do something drastic if the status quo gets out of hand

[daleo]

3. It sounds like U.S. government supported ethnic cleansing

No doubt some either euphemism will be used.

[Rose Siding]

5. That certainly looks like the position we'll be in, doesn't it?

Meanwhile, cable news goes on and on about nonbinding resolutions like it's some soap opera. Small world those guys live in.

[alfredo]

4. I've always been more concerned about what the Kurds would

do than what the Sunni and Shia.

[LynnTheDem]

7. And even some DUers wonder(ed) why I don't fully support the Kurds.

Anyone knowing Kurdish history would know exactly why fully supporting the Kurds was never a good idea. If ya thought only Hussein was a bad man, ya never botherefd to look into the facts of the Kurds.

Ethnic cleansing is being done by the Kurds in Iraq right now. And has been on-going for months.

Under US occupation.

Which means, to the world, with US authority.

"We are about to do something that will ignite a fuse in this region that we will rue the day we ever started."
-Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, former Head of Central Command for U.S
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2002/10/17/zinni