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| Iraq |
| Iraq seizes Kirkuk from Kurds leaving two US allies locked in conflict and bringing end to move for independence |
| 2017-10-17 |
| [Independent] Elite Iraqi security forces have captured the Kurdish government headquarters buildings in the centre of Kirkuk with the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordering the Iraqi flag to be raised over Kirkuk and other disputed territories. An Iraqi Oil Ministry official said that it would be "a very short time" before the Iraqi military seized all the oilfields in Kirkuk province. The century-old movement for Kurdish independence has suffered a calamitous defeat as Iraqi military forces retake the Kirkuk oil province, facing little resistance so far from the Peshmerga fighters. Kurdish officials accuse part of the forces belonging to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of the two main Kurdish parties, of "treason" in not resisting the Iraqi assault. Iraqi Kurdish dreams of achieving real independence depended on controlling the oil wealth of Kirkuk which is now lost to them, probably forever. Such autonomy as they did have will be curtailed, with Turkey announcing that it will hand over control of the border gate between Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan to the central government in Baghdad. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #7 They can't conquer Syria. We can. But do we want to fight Turkey for the privilege of doing so? Even carving out a corridor to the sea would be a major undertaking in the face of Turkish opposition. The other problem is Kurdish fecklessness. In a quarter century of de facto independence, Iraqi Kurdish has evolved into an economic basket case. Do we really want to carry them for the rest of eternity? If you join KRG to the PYD/PKK, you have a broken Iraqi Kurd economy joined to a Syrian Kurd Marxist economy. Exactly how is this a viable economy short of endless US subsidies? Forgetting the economic aspects, how about the Kurds simply showed some fight? Last I heard, they're getting chased out of Kirkuk. The Iraqi army took 9 months to overrun Mosul, with major US air support. We are days into the Iraqi invasion of Kirkuk, and already the Kurds are getting rolled back, even without US air support for the Iraqis. The principal difference between the Shiites and the Kurds is journos ran interference, PR-wise, for the Kurds, because the Kurds aren't holy rollers. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2017-10-17 22:18 |
| #6 Basically we need the Kurds to conquer Syria so they have access to the sea and have at least one peaceful border (with Israel). As is they really are geographically screwed. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2017-10-17 17:58 |
| #5 Figures. The Kurds were built up in the media as giant killers, but they've never really been all that. They were stomped by ISIS, same as everyone else. The media likes them because they're somewhat secular. But they've always needed, like the Shiites, serious air support to get anywhere. Just after 9/11, even the ramshackle Northern Alliance managed to rout the Taliban, with B-52 strikes leading the way. Frankly, without Russian and American air strikes, Syria and Iraq would be ISIS-ruled today. ISIS's only problem would be getting hold of new military aircraft. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2017-10-17 15:37 |
| #4 That whole enemy of my enemy thing is gonna twist again. Feel free to view Kurds as your friends, and everybody else in ME - except Israel - as your enemy. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2017-10-17 13:16 |
| #3 I'm just wondering how many Iranians and militias were waiting outside Kirkuk? All of 'em. That whole enemy of my enemy thing is gonna twist again. We saw |
| Posted by: Tennessee 2017-10-17 10:51 |
| #2 The independence dream was alive when Saddam was gassing the Kurds, how can it be over now? I'm just wondering how many Iranians and militias were waiting outside Kirkuk? |
| Posted by: jvalentour 2017-10-17 10:26 |
| #1 bringing end to move for independence So sez a British rag. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2017-10-17 09:17 |