Anger mounts on decision to deploy Kurdish militias in Baghdad

[sabra]

http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news/2007-01-08/kurd.htm

Anger mounts on decision to deploy Kurdish militias in Baghdad

Kurdish leaders have decided to deploy their own militias in the current fighting in Baghdad where government troops aided by U.S. forces have launched yet another campaign to secure the restive city.

The move comes as U.S. President George W. Bush is set to announce his much-awaited for new strategy for Iraq in which he is expected to announce a surge in the number of U.S. troops in the country.

...

Criticism of the current campaign has come mainly from Sunni leaders who say that the Shiite-dominated government is solely targeting Sunni-dominated quarters in Baghdad.

...

Kurdish militias have not yet arrived in Baghdad but sources said their deployment was expected to coincide with the stationing of at least 20,000 more U.S. troops in the city.

...

To order Kurdish militias to fight in Baghdad is seen by many a dangerous step that is bound to further deepen the ethnic divisions and add more fuel to the current sectarian fire.

[Ian David]

1. Because we can't have so much peace in Kurdistan, "The Other Iraq"

Foreign Investors See Northern Iraq (Kurdistan) as Gateway to Rest of Country

Voice of America, 30 June 2006

Iraq is struggling to rebuild after years of economic sanctions and conflict. But the lack of security in much of the country has scared away potential investors and slowed reconstruction. But in the relatively quiet Kurdish area of northern Iraq, stability is paving the way for prosperity as the region works to attract foreign investment.

Security fears in central and southern Iraq have made it impossible for many foreign companies to do business in those areas. But with the ability to offer security in the north, the Kurdish government has declared itself open for business.

Many foreign companies have already started coming to the Kurdish region. Hersh al-Tayyar, the chairman of the Iraqi Businessmen's Union based in the northern city of Irbil, says recently Lebanese companies have been exploring the area's potential, but the bulk of the foreign businesses now in northern Iraq are from Turkey. One such company is the Turkish firm 77, which has invested a lot of money in cement batching plants.

Many of the companies here right now are seeking projects funded by the Kurdish regional government , rather than putting up the capital. But others, such as the Lebanese Bank Audi, have entered northern Iraq with an eye to the long-term, and are investing money and hiring and training local employees.

More:
http://www.theotheriraq.com/press_investors.html

Plenty of Civil War whoop-ass and Ethnic Cleansing left for the Kurds!

Anything that pushes the world closer to The Apocalypse is Bush's foreign policy. That, and softening them up for an attack by Turkey.

[iconoclastic cat]

2. Are they f'ing insane? Do they not understand the concept of revenge in the ME?

Do they not get that there will be massive payback doled out by these militias as they roll into Sunni areas? Are they that f'ing stupid?

[Richard Steele]

3. This may well be the worst idea I've heard all year.

I was gonna say "worst idea of the war", but then
I thought about it for two seconds.

I can't imagine that mere incompetence is sufficient
to explain this move. It's guaranteed to make things worse.
And that's saying A LOT, given the situation.

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[babylonsister]

4. Are they purposefully stirring up religious

frenzy in Iraq? They're doing a 'heckuva job'...

[rodeodance]

5. prob. appeacing Malaki??

[madrchsod]

7. the kurds are indo europeans not arabs

it`s not really religious it`s ethnic war on the arabs.

[madrchsod]

6. jesus christ he is insane

the kurds in baghdad is insane. the shites and sunni`s will stop slaughtering each other and turn on the kurds and americans. they may not like each other but the haterd of the americans and the kurds will unite the arabs long enough to inflict huge losses to the "enemy". may god have mercy on the innocents in baghdad

[ohio2007]

8. If the Kurds are not accepted as being Iraqi citizes equal

to the Sunni/Shia status then the country must be dissolved.

Seperate but equal doesn't work.

[leftchick]

10. "the country must be disolved"?

by whom?

[ohio2007]

11. The civil war

combatants are carving up Iraq as we speak.

[leftchick]

15. last I looked the country belonged to them

not the imperialist occupiers. It is up to the US to get the fuck out and let the Iraqis have their country back. The US should have ZERO say in its out come. Yet those new Iraqi OIL contracts have US benefits all through them and the Iraqis lose everything. What was this invasion about again?

[iconoclastic cat]

9. It's on MSNBC and WaPo now:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16516536/

[theHandpuppet]

12. Oh what a GREAT IDEA!!!!

NOT!

[stillcool]

13. what to think?...

Targeting Iran
by Saman Sepehri
International Socialist Review, November-December 20006
........................................................................
There is no alternative for the United States. The U.S. cannot just concede the Middle East. Whatever the difficulties, it will not walk away from the most important strategic area in a world economy defined by greater energy needs.
The United States is not out of options in its dealings with Iran. There is still a possibility of pushing through certain scaled down resolutions through the UN Security Council to force other countries to curb trade with Iran (if we can't have Iran-you can't either), cutting Iran's economic ties, and weakening its economy. There is the possibility of using such UN resolutions as a fig leaf (just like in the invasion of Iraq) for more aggressive tactics when the time comes-such as harassment, ship searches, and a blockade of goods traveling into Iran's ports with the excuse of stopping military and nuclear shipments. This would certainly bottle up the Iranian navy, and prevent the possible closing or mining of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran in retaliation for a U.S. attack-a serious concern since about half of the world's oil exports travel through this twenty-mile wide waterway. This "soft blockade" could also provoke an "incident" which could be used as a pretext to launch wider assaults.
And finally, taking a page out of the Iraq playbook, the United States has already started a campaign of destabilization through fomenting ethnic unrest. There have already been a series of explosions and bombings targeting mostly civilians, in Khuzestan and Kurdish cities bordering Iraq, and raids on government vehicles and even civilians in Baluchestan, on the Pakistani border, by small groups which have surfaced calling for independence. Given the Iranian regime's history of repression, the demands for autonomy and independence, especially in Kurdistan, can actually strike a chord and mesh with real grievances. This crisis may take time to develop. Or an incident in the Persian Gulf may accelerate the pace of events. But the confrontation with Iran will come. It will be our job in the U.S. to organize a movement against yet another U.S. military adventure in the Middle East.

Saman Sepehri is author of "The Geopolitics of Oil" (ISR 26, November-December 2002) and "The Iranian Revolution" (ISR 9, August-September 2000).http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Iran/Targeting_Iran.html

[DemoDemoCratCrat]

14. If, big if.

If the Kurds can set a very high standard for discipline and restraint, it is possible that they could become a role model for Sunni and Shiite factions. Maybe that's what they're thinking. So far, the Kurds have been that way.

That said, it is a very risky move. Things rarely turn out as planned in war. Putting the Kurds right in the face of the Sunnis could trigger all kinds of trouble.

[ohio2007]

16. maybe te Kurds are the source of the 40,000 surge of troops

into the Baghdad slums ? I don't see how that many US troops can be mustered into making that kind of commitment .

[LynnTheDem]

17. Cept the Kurds have been killing each other for 30 years.

So no, it ain't too likely they'll exercise any restraint and be "role models" .