Free Republic

Thursday, Apr. 24, 2003 Even as the U.S. works to stabilize a postwar Iraq, Turkey is setting out to create a footprint of its own in the Kurdish areas of the country. In the days after U.S. forces captured Saddam's powerbase in Tikrit, a dozen Turkish Special Forces troops were dispatched south from Turkey. Their target: the northern oil city of Kirkuk, now controlled by the U.S. 173rd Airborne Division's 3rd Brigade. Using the pretext of accompanying humanitarian aid the elite soldiers passed through the northern city of Arbil on Tuesday. They wore civilian clothes, their vehicles lagging behind a...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 4/12/03 - Mosul, Jabal Maqlub, Ghazel, Khaneqin, Arbil, Kalak, Kifry, Hadithah dam, Shamamer, Halabja, Chamchamal, Kirkuk, Altun Kupri, Tuz Khurmatu, Dohuk BREAKING: Mosul - Iraqis surrender BREAKING: Jabal Maqlub - SF special contributions BREAKING: Ghazel - Bridge destroyed by Iraqis, but captured BREAKING: Khaneqin - liberated from Saddam BREAKING: Arbil - freedom with the help of the USA BREAKING: Arbil - More Iraqi atropine injectors captured BREAKING: Kalak - freedom after airstrikes BREAKING: Kifry - freedom after Iraqi rockets BREAKING: Hadithah dam - champion US Special Forces secured it BREAKING: Shamamer -...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 4/3/03 - Rescues, Najaf, Nasiriyah, Arbil, Umm Qasr BREAKING: Freed behind Enemy Lines - POW Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch BREAKING: Freed in Az Zubaya - Black Watch BREAKING: Baghdad - Republican Guard palace + BREAKING: Najaf - cache of Iraqi weapons from Saddam's military school BREAKING: Nasiriyah - Battle lines BREAKING: Nasiriyah - captured Iraqi military base BREAKING: Nasiriyah - WMD-suits, masks and ammunition which were found at military installation BREAKING: Nasiriyah - freed Iraqi bedouins BREAKING: Arbil - Atropine injectors left by retreating Iraqis BREAKING: Halabja - New sheriff in town...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 03/29/03 - Arbil, Chamchamal, Kirkuk, Baghdad BREAKING: Saddam Surrounded BREAKING: Arbil- American paratroopers In Force BREAKING: Chamchamal - Kurds Take Iraqi Position BREAKING: Near Kirkuk - Retreating Iraqis BREAKING: Baath telecommunications centers taken out BREAKING: Baath government centers taken out BREAKING: Baghdad-Tikrit Regime elects to continue its terror and WMD BREAKING: Fedayeen and Republican Guard - Decimation In progress ========= Map of northern Iraq ========= Map of northern Iraq showing the major battles [per AFP FWIW]. ========= Harir airfield ========= At the Harir airfield, somewhere near the Kurdish city of Arbil [231...