Washington Post
Posted on 10/13/2017 5:12:31 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Kurdish peshmerga soldiers rallied to protect Kirkuk on Thursday night, as Interior Ministry troops and Shiite militias mobilized nearby. Volunteer and retired fighters bolstered the lines. Several positions were taken over by Iraqi forces, however, with Kurdish officers saying they received orders to withdraw.
The Kirkuk area, with about 10 percent of Iraq’s oil reserves, has long been contested by the central government in Baghdad and Kurdish authorities in Irbil, but the province has become even more of a flash point since the Kurdistan region voted in favor of independence in a referendum last month.
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Kurdistan sees Kirkuk — ethnically and religiously mixed and home to Kurds, Arabs, Turkmens, Assyrian Christians, Sunnis and Shiites — as a historically Kurdish city where demographics were shifted by a campaign of “Arabization” under Iraq’s former dictatorial ruler, Saddam Hussein.
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Najmaldin Karim, governor of Kirkuk province, said Baghdad demanded that the peshmerga retreat from the K-1 military base and the oil fields run by Iraq’s North Oil Co. “They gave us an ultimatum,” he said. “There were troop movements of Shiite militias. Some of them were disguised as the federal police; they were with elements of the army. They moved toward our vital infrastructure, power plants, gas and oil fields.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Oil... spoils of war. Follow the money.
On the map Kirkuk doesn’t look to be traditional Kurd territory. I know the maps in the area are awful iffy at times.
Iraq may have a legitimate claim here.
I agree that oil is the driving force here.
Maybe we could make a deal with the Kurds. If they give up Kirkuk, the U.S. will drill them some oil wells. I’m pretty sure there would be oil somewhere in Kurdistan. That could defuse the problem.
Here's a map of the Kurdish area.
Seems to have some decent resources.
The Kurd’s homeland is probably more secure, too.
Probably so. Kurdish folks have a vested interest in their own territory, region.
We’re going to abandon the Kurds — again — but we should be recognizing and helping them. Not only have they been good allies, they have protected Christians, Yazidis, and other victims of persecution. They should have their own state.
Free Kurdistan.
The Kurds are as close to the good guys as there are in the region.
They have been our best and strongest (and most effective) ally in the fight in the Middle East. The Iraqis have been feckless, and now they’re in open alliance with Iranian forces.
Meanwhile, Kurdistan has fought side by side with us the entire way. They were the ones who led us to Salamn Pak. They have given safe harbor to displaced Christians and Yazidis. The Kurds deserve our full support, and I am disappointed that President Trump is staying neutral.
Not taking a side effectively sides with the Iraqi forces, and therefore with Iranian forces. I’d rather side wit our allies, the protectors of Christians, teh best fighting force in the region.
Frankly, they deserve our help.
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