[An.American.Expatriate]

The Kurdish autonomous region, established after the 1991 Gulf War, is protected by U.S.-British air patrols. It is governed by The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in the east, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the west.

This would be the no fly zone. I know that they had some amount of autonomy, but I do not believe that they were so independant that they could do as they pleased - otherwise they would not have been under sanctions and could have sold thier oil via Turkey, Iran, etc...

There were Iraqi troops in the north - the Kurds fought against them in the war (as did we) - I specifically recall this from the Situation Room threads, but do not have the time to look for the references.

I'm not saying that there was no autonomy and I am not saying that the kurds bear no responsibility - but to state that Iraq had nothing to do with the northern areas is simply not true.

[lugsoul]

No, that would not be the no fly zone. The lack of precision on this issues is frustrating. The no fly zone included all of northern Iraq. The Kurdish autonomous area was a part of northern Iraq. Ansar was HQ'd in the Kurdish autonomous area. Saddam did not occupy the Kurdish autonomous area.