Kurds, Sunni Arabs Clash in North -- a Small Echo of Larger Dispute

[maddezmom]

A police station is seized to thwart a new Arab commander. Ethnic strife shows potential for violence as lawmakers contemplate federalism.
By Kim Murphy, Times Staff Writer
September 26, 2006


BAGHDAD — Kurdish militiamen seized a police station in northern Iraq on Monday to prevent its transfer to a new Sunni Arab commander, igniting a daylong standoff that echoed the parliament's continuing unease over territory-sharing in the final administrative map of Iraq.

The clash in the town of Jalawla underscored the potential for violence as parliament prepared to study the contentious issue of creating autonomous regions in this multiethnic and heavily armed nation.

Though most of the biggest political disputes are likely to center on the oilfields in the south, in largely Shiite Muslim areas, and the northern city of Kirkuk, another oil-rich area claimed by the Kurds, the clash in Jalawla marked an early warning of what many fear could be a turbulent battle for the frontiers of a future Kurdish zone.

Authorities said the former Kurdish police commander in Jalawla, who was recently removed from his job by the Diyala provincial council, arrived at the station Sunday night accompanied by a force of Kurdish armed men and laid siege.

more:http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-iraq26sep26,1,2714879.story?coll=la-news-a_section

[EFerrari]

1. I just heard on "Mosaic" - the news cast on Link Tv from

the Middle East -- that an Iraqi (Kurdish?) legislator is calling for the establishment of two American bases to protect the Kurdish area.

Maybe this is the new strategy from BushCo. They can't stay in Iraq but they may be able to keep a toehold in the Kurdish area?

[maddezmom]

2. from yesterday: Talabani asks for long-term US military presence in Iraq

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Iraqi President Jalal Talabani asked for a long-term US military presence in Iraq, in an interview, saying his country will need two permanent US air bases to deter "foreign interference".

He did not elaborate on the nature of the threat, but his remarks contained an indication he had in mind neighboring Iran.

"I think we will be in need of American forces for a long time -- even two military bases to prevent foreign interference," Talabani told The Washington Post. "I don't ask to have 100,000 American soldiers -- 10,000 soldiers and two air bases would be enough."

The president, a Kurd, made clear the bases would be most welcome in Kurdistan, an autonomous region in northern Iraq that has practiced de facto self-government since the 1991 Gulf War.

But he suggested that the Sunni Arab segment of the Iraqi population would also be receptive of the idea.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060925/ts_alt_afp/usiraqmilitarybases_060925132144

sounds like peacekeepers to me

[acmavm]

3. Right. The Shi'ites and the Sunnis are gonna go for that one. I somehow

can't see them allowing us to police their country in order to let the Kurds walk off with the Kirkuk oil fields, can you?

[maddezmom]

5. No I don't see the Sunnis agreeing to this at all

no matter what Talabani says...he wants the oil fields and will do anything for bush to get them, IMO.

[EFerrari]

4. Maybe Talibani wants peacekeepers but BushCo wants cover. nt

[Kagemusha]

8. He's the president of the entire Iraqi country, not a legislator.

fyi

[EFerrari]

10. Yeah. I didn't realize Talibani had said it. n/t

[xchrom]

6. the kurds know that an american presense

in kurdish iraq deters not only the sunnis -- but also turkey and iran from incursions to what WILL become a future homeland -- called kurdistan.

[acmavm]

7. Don't bet on that.

[Nimrod2005]

9. It will be getting much much worse for many years to come...nt