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| Iraq |
| Iraqi army readies for showdown with Kurds |
| 2008-09-03 |
| Iraqi troops and Kurdish peshmerga forces are bracing for conflict in the disputed city of Khanaqin in the most serious threat of clashes between Arabs and Kurds since the fall of Saddam Hussein. A delegation flew from Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish regional government, to Baghdad at the weekend to try to resolve the crisis. The two main Kurdish parties are allied and form part of Iraq's coalition government. However, Massoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan region, and leader of the Kurdish Democratic party, said Iraq was still living under the influence of Saddam's regime and the central government was not serious about sharing power with Kurds. He claimed many military decisions were made without consultations with General Babakir Zebari, a Kurd who is the Iraqi army's chief of staff. Gen Zebari, apparently torn between competing loyalties, visited Khanaqin on Monday and was quoted in the Baghdad media as saying Iraqi troops had the right to launch operations in the area. The crisis has grown since July when the Iraqi government ordered peshmerga forces to withdraw to Kurdistan from Diyala. It also told the two main Kurdish parties to move out of the numerous government buildings in Diyala which they had taken over when Saddam's regime fell. The Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, is a Kurd and the two Kurdish parties have been firm allies of the prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki's Shia-led government since its inception. But on Sunday, the government in Baghdad shocked its Kurdish partners by announcing it would send finance ministry auditors to check customs revenues levied by Kurdish officials on the Turkish border. Transit traffic and smuggling are the main sources of revenue for some Kurds. Parts of northern Diyala are claimed by Kurds as part of their ancient homeland. An estimated 85% of the population of Khanaqin, which is situated on a dusty plateau close to Iran, are Kurds and Kurdish leaders insist that Khanaqin must remain under peshmerga control. "The Iraqi army still wants to enter, and the peshmerga is present," said Ibrahim Bajelani, a Kurd who heads the provincial council. "Everyone is on edge. If the Iraqi army tries to enter without prior agreement, we can't be held responsible for the consequences." |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #7 If I recall correctly, every stage of withdrawal was contingent upon Iraq meeting certain standards in terms of control of the violent, rule of law, and democratic steps, not absolute time. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-09-03 18:10 |
| #6 As we all post, al-Maliki is pressuring President Bush to sign a get-the-hell-out (SOFA) agreement by 2011. What pressure? He can revive the civil war at the bat of an eye. Do we respect Iraq's territorial integrity in 2012 if they start murdering Kurds? |
| Posted by: Regional Peace 2008-09-03 18:04 |
| #5 My conservative instincts suggest to me that Iraqis will revert to type within a decade. Note that upon independence (from European or American rule), a lot of countries were organized as democracies including Iraq, Cuba and the Philippines. Maliki is doing a lot of the things I would expect from a would-be dictator. A key move is arranging for the expulsion of American troops because they might interfere with his plans for a life term in office. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2008-09-03 12:56 |
| #4 Perhaps the worst argument of early America was the fight between Federalists and anti-Federalists--which was never really resolved, only forced by George Washington's suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion, which is still argued as illegal and unconstitutional. That is, the anti-Federalists won. And this same argument has been going on for two decades in the EU, and it is now becoming acute in Iraq. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-09-03 11:49 |
| #3 I agree with Trailing wife. This is very impressive. Now, if we could just get Americans to show this kind of maturity... |
| Posted by: Richard of Oregon 2008-09-03 11:22 |
| #2 Oh joy! |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-09-03 08:47 |
| #1 This actually is a good thing, a sign that the country is starting to mature. The Iraqis have moved beyond the question of survival to the big questions of what the country that they all feel ownership in is going to look like. The Sunnis have given up the idea of regaining the control they had under Saddam Hussein; now the Shiites are going to have to realize that being in the majority doesn't give them ownership either, the dream they've been clutching ever since they discovered that they actually were a majority of the population. That doesn't mean the next bit won't be painful, though. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-09-03 08:18 |