Colonel Khatab has good reason to sound smug. In contrast to other urban areas in Iraq, which have collapsed into anarchy, Kirkuk yesterday shone as a solitary example of fast postwar recovery. Though a few incidents of arson and looting continued and shops have yet to open, the hospitals functioned, electricity and water supplies were intact and traffic police controlled the roads.
His political masters have even greater reason for self-congratulation. In a takeover worthy of a Hollywood script, the PUK duped the Americans, played off the Turks and walked over the Iraqis.
And the situation in Kirkuk was supposed to be the biggest disaster waiting to happen--instead, it's calmer than Basra or Baghdad! The PUK are very good friends of the US. I don't think it's accidental that we are using their troops here and not the KDP's.