Article

2017-10-17 Iraq

Iraq seizes Kirkuk from Kurds leaving two US allies locked in conflict and bringing end to move for independence

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Posted by Besoeker 2017-10-17 01:13|| || Front Page|| [7 views ] Top
File under: Govt of Iraq

#1 bringing end to move for independence

So sez a British rag.

Posted by Besoeker 2017-10-17 09:17|| 2017-10-17 09:17|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2017-10-17 10:26|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2017-10-17 10:51|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2017-10-17 13:16|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2017-10-17 15:37|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2017-10-17 17:58|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2017-10-17 22:18|| Front Page Top

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