Beware of the Kurds

Wall Street Journal ^ | 3/19/203 | Melik Kaylan

[a_Turk]

Some miles over the border into the Saddam-controlled part of Northern Iraq, a local contact told me that Saddam Hussein has placed tanks and explosives in narrow streets to maximize collateral damage. He has also forcibly billeted troops and loyalist cadres in civilian homes in readiness for street fighting -- and to prevent the populace from fleeing. Saddam has done this in neighborhoods mostly populated by the Turkmen and Assyrian Christian minorities, whom he has repressed and decimated. His troops, though, are unlikely to survive their hosts' ire once the shooting starts. Back across the border in the Kurdish zone I returned to Irbil, the stronghold of Massoud Barzani, the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) chief. (Barzani sports a silent-movie moustache above a chubby figure and has a way with native headwrapping that rivals Yasser Arafat.) I have been living here in the guise of a businessman. Not being registered as a journalist means I don't need a KDP minder "for my protection." In the age-old fashion, such minders have a distinct influence on what foreign journalists see and think. In this case, journalists have not noted the nefarious activities of the Kurdish authorities in charge of the northern "no-fly" zone. Perhaps the media think that it's all too inside-baseball for readers back home. That is a mistake. Within days, the Kurds could be in charge of the oil towns of Kirkuk and Mosul, and their habits of government will matter very much.

[a_Turk]

It's ironic that Barzani should incite such ardor for the "sacred Kurdish soil" which he occupied with Saddam's armor in 1996. Soon after, he rounded up Turkmen and Assyrian leaders and handed them over to Saddam's spies. None returned.

[RAT Patrol]

The middle east sure is complicated.

[Keith]

Ok, a_Turk, you know this better than we do...what do we do?

WE are damned if we do, and damned if we don't.

[Jim Noble]

re: "Beware of the Kurds"

We need to beware of everybody.

Recently, the Turks are rising on the "beware of" list, and the Kurds are falling.

The world would be a better place if everyone told their children every day when they woke up, "Beware of America". Which we are working on.

[okkev68]

and whey.

[dfwgator]

The Turks will have a chance to redeem themselves when it comes time to take care of Syria.

[kansas_jayhawks2003]

they will but the question is how long

[a_Turk]

>> what do we do?

We do what's most practical when it is most practical..

And we shouldn't hurt anyone's "feelings" until we're really done with them..

The international scene is similar to a men's prison where musical chairs are the favorite pastime.. Until it explodes into the occasional orgy.. Woe to those left standing..

[muleskinner]

I like cheese Curds

[DonQ]

Howcome the Palestinians are entitled to their own country - but only if they can take the land away from the Jews, since the Jordanians and Egyptians never gave them so much as an inch of territory - but the Kurds, who definitely don't blend in with surrounding Arabs, aren't??

I'm just asking.

[a_Turk]

Bad leadership? Terror support? Expense?

[Stavka2]

Well I'll tell you what not to do...do't let Turkey have the north of Iraq. They are using the Turkomen pretext for territorial expansion...kinda like the Germans with the Sudetenland.

[Stavka2]

Because that would cause the Kurds in Turkey to have hope...and Turkey has gone out of its way to make sure they have none.

[Live free or die]

Bump for when I can read this.

[Sender]

I keep hearing that after the war in Iraq, a "coalition government representing all of Iraq's peoples" will be in power and all will live happily ever after. Is this a fantasy? Will there be war between the ethnic groups until a new dictator arises?

[Jim Noble]

I keep hearing that after the war in Iraq, a "coalition government representing all of Iraq's peoples" will be in power and all will live happily ever after. Is this a fantasy?

I'd like to build the world a home
And furnish it with love
Grow apple trees and honey bees and snow-white turtle doves

I'd like to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony
I'd like to hold it in my arms and keep it company
I'd like to see the world for once
All standing hand in hand
And hear them echo through the hills "Ah, peace throughout the land"

You bet your ass it's a fantasy.

And you'd better pray it isn't GWB's fantasy.

[Servant of the Nine]

WE are damned if we do, and damned if we don't.

Kill them all and let God sort them out is beginning to sound more and more reasonable.

So9

[a_Turk]

>> Will there be war between the ethnic groups until a new dictator arises?

That would depend on who the leaders are and to what extent they are enriched with money and arms.

[FITZ]

I think you're right ---we need to remember the Taliban and that at first we backed them ---when they fought the Russians. Americans don't understand the mindsets in the Middle East very well, we tend to see things in terms of "good guys" and "bad guys".

[FITZ]

cause the Kurds in Turkey to have hope

But have hope in what? What do the Kurds in Turkey want? From what I've understood, Turkey isn't as repressive as many middle east countries are.