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Posted on 03/06/2003 6:06:39 PM PST by blam
American special forces are already paving the way for mass invasion
By Patrick Cockburn in Dohuk, northern Iraq
07 March 2003
In the mountain city of Dohuk, some 40 highly trained US special forces are secretly preparing the way for the American armies expected to invade Iraq in the next few weeks.
"We will help any kind of force which comes to destroy the Iraqi regime," said Faisal Amin Rostinki, a veteran Kurdish soldier who is head of security for the 23,000-strong Kurdish force that has its headquarters in Dohuk. While confirming the presence of US soldiers he refused to give an exact location, saying: "They have no single base here."
The purpose of the special forces, recently infiltrated into the three northern provinces of Iraq under the control of the Kurds, is to prepare the ground, by scouting and gathering intelligence, for a full-scale invasion. The Kurds have always had up-to-the-minute information about the disposition, equipment and morale of the 1st and 5th Iraqi army corps that defend the strategically important cities of Mosul and Kirkuk.
There are more than 100 US special forces now based in the Kurdish cities of Dohuk, Arbil, Salahudin and Sulaimaniyah according to well-informed sources. Mr Faisal, who as head of security does not carry a military rank, was studiously vague about the assistance given to the troops by the Kurds, saying: "We respect them and try to help them."
The nature of the US assault on northern Iraq, inevitable if a war begins, has been uncertain since last weekend when the Turkish parliament narrowly turned down a deal under which 62,000 US troops and 310 aircraft would be based in Turkey. The 4th Infantry Division would then strike south from the Turkish border towards Mosul, the largest city in northern Iraq, whose loss would be a severe psychological blow to Saddam Hussein's government in Baghdad. Many Iraqi army officers and officials come from Mosul.
The US wants to capture the oil province of Kirkuk early in the campaign, in case Saddam Hussein intends to blow up the oilfields as he did in Kuwait in 1991. It has also warned the Kurdish leaders against sending their own Peshmerga (Kurdish soldiers) to take Kirkuk, which the Kurds regard as a Kurdish city forcibly Arabised since 1975. Turkey has always said it will intervene militarily to stop the Kurds taking Kirkuk.
If the Turkish parliament reverses its decision on the use of Turkish bases, the American invasion will go ahead as planned. If no bases are available then the US will probably try a more complicated attack with greater use of airborne troops. It would also have a greater need for Kurdish co-operation and in particular the old Iraqi air base at Harir, 20 miles outside Arbil, as well as smaller airfields close to Dohuk and Sulaimaniyah.
Kurdish leaders expect President Saddam to fight for Mosul and Kirkuk but make a final stand in Baghdad. He has recently withdrawn one elite Republican Guard division from Mosul and relocated it further south around Tikrit, the home province of the Iraqi leader. It means he now has 11 divisions in the north as well as local militia forces, notably the al-Quds Army, though this is mainly directed at suppressing internal dissent.
The two western provinces of Iraqi Kurdistan, Dohuk and Arbil, are ruled by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) led by Masoud Barzani. He has an army of 62,000 men, of whom 50,000 are combat troops, all infantry with few tanks and little heavy artillery. Originally a guerrilla force it has been upgrading into a more professional force, its training combining Peshmerga experience and Iraqi army practice. Many Kurdish officers, formerly in the Iraqi army, occupy senior positions.
In addition to the KDP forces, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, in control of Sulaimaniyah province in eastern Kurdistan, has about 40,000 men. The two parties, who fought a savage series of civil wars in the mid-1990s, have just established a joint military command.
In Afghanistan, US special forces, co-operating with the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, orchestrated air strikes in support of local forces. But the war in Iraq is likely to be very different since the US will have its own land forces available. General Babaker Zebari, the commander of Kurdish forces in Dohuk, is currently in the US, but Washington is unlikely to shift its opposition to the Kurdish army taking part in the war because it fears the Turkish reaction. Mr Faisal said the special forces in Dohuk were not forthcoming about their activities. "They didn't ask us for translators," he said. "If they do we will provide them."
The relationship between the Kurds and the US is openly cordial but there is a strong undercurrent of suspicion that the US will allow a Turkish army to take over a chunk of territory in northern Kurdistan. The Turkish government has made plain its prime motive for the incursion would be to curb the influence of the Kurds in a post-war settlement.
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SECRETLY?
After their actions last week, I think they can kiss that possibility goodbye!
Not quite so secret, yes?
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