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| Iraq |
| 2010-07-07 |
| The top U.S. military commander in Iraq said yesterday that U.N. peacekeeping forces might need to protect disputed territories in the nation's north if tensions between Kurds and Arabs haven't eased by the time U.S. troops leave in 2011. In an interview, U.S. Army Gen. Ray Odierno said U.N. peacekeepers might be one option if Kurdish soldiers haven't integrated into the Arab-dominated Iraqi army over the next year. He said he hopes the U.N. forces won't be necessary. But Odierno acknowledged that tensions between the two cultures - and disputes over the oil-rich land in Iraq's north that each side claims as its territory - have been simmering for years without resolution. Iraq's Kurds want several areas of Ninevah, Tamim and Diyala provinces to be part of their autonomous region, a move opposed by the Arab-dominated central government. "If (they) have not integrated, we might have to think of some other mechanism," Odierno said. "I don't know what that is yet. Is it a Chapter 6 U.N. force? I don't know. But that's something that has to be worked out, and it'll be depending on how far we are able to bring this process." Chapter 6 of the United Nations charter refers to peacekeeping duties such as investigating and mediating disputes. The prospect of U.N. peacekeepers raises questions about whether Iraq will be stable by the time all U.S. troops are required to leave at the end of 2011 under a security agreement between Washington and Baghdad. It's widely believed that Iraq's leaders might ask the United States to revisit that agreement and leave at least some troops behind after 2011 to give the nation's uneven army and police forces more time to train. |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #3 as I recall the UN didn't back us in Iraq. pull funding and tell them too fuck off. |
| Posted by: chris 2010-07-07 14:54 |
| #2 I thought the US was already funding a large military operation in Iraq? Now the US has to pay 75 more for another op on top of the current or is it an accounting shift? |
| Posted by: miscellaneous 2010-07-07 12:47 |
| #1 UN forces easing 'tensions' like they have in Lebanon? The Kurds have gotta be lovin' this idea. |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2010-07-07 11:52 |