Kurdish Iraqi soldiers are deserting to avoid the conflict in Baghdad

[sabra]

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/world/16501285.htm

Kurdish Iraqi soldiers are deserting to avoid the conflict in Baghdad
McClatchy Newspapers

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq - As the Iraqi government attempts to secure a capital city ravaged by conflict between Sunni and Shiite Muslim Arabs, its decision to bring a third party into the mix may cause more problems than peace.

Kurdish soldiers from northern Iraq, who are mostly Sunnis but not Arabs, are deserting the army to avoid the civil war in Baghdad, a conflict they consider someone else's problem.

The Iraqi army brigades being sent to the capital are filled with former members of a Kurdish militia, the peshmerga, that's the armed wing of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's political party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. Most remain loyal to that militia.

Much as Shiite militias have infiltrated the Iraqi security forces across Arab Iraq, the peshmerga fill the ranks of the Iraqi army in the Kurdish region in the north, poised to secure a semi-independent Kurdistan and seize oil-rich Kirkuk and parts of Mosul if Iraq falls apart. One thing they didn't bank on, they said, was being sent into the "fire" of Baghdad.

...

Dolani called the desertions a "phenomenon" but refused to say how many soldiers have left the army.

[hatrack]

1. "No one could have predicted Kurds or Sunnis deserting the Shia-led government armed forces."

Where's Condi when you really need her?

[annabanana]

10. You got that right... They are still operating on the

"greeted with flowers and candy" principle. If you wish hard enough it will come true.

[DavidDvorkin]

2. Who can blame them?

Imagine if every soldier in every army were to desert! Now, that would be a good thing for the world. It won't happen, but it would be a good thing.

[rodeodance]

14. you would think this Adm. would get the 'loyality" factor!

[rodeodance]

15. "expressed loyalty to their Kurdish brethren, not to Iraq.",,,,,,,

......"This is the biggest performance through which we can test them," said Lt. Gen. Ali Ghaidan, the commander of land forces for the Iraqi Ministry of Defense. The Kurdish soldiers will be using translators, and they'll start off doing less dangerous tasks, such as manning checkpoints with Arab soldiers, he said.

In interviews, however, soldiers in Sulaimaniyah expressed loyalty to their Kurdish brethren, not to Iraq. Many said they'd already deserted, and those who are going to Baghdad said they'd flee if the situation there became too difficult.

"I joined the army to be a soldier in my homeland, among my people. Not to fight for others who I have nothing to do with," said Ameen Kareem, 38, who took a week's leave with other soldiers from his brigade in Irbil and never returned. "I used to fight in the mountains and valleys, not in the streets."

Kareem said he knew that deserting was risky, but he said he'd rather be behind bars in Kurdistan than a "soldier in Baghdad's fire." Without the language and with his Kurdish features, he was sure he would stand out, he said. He's a Kurd, he said, and he has no reason to become a target in an Arab war.

Now he drives a taxi in Sulaimaniyah, eking out a living and praying that he doesn't get caught.

[MadMaddie]

3. Imagine that....another well thought out plan....sigh...

[Jcrowley]

4. K&R n/t

[Wise Doubter]

5. What if they gave a war and nobody came? n/t !

[pocoloco]

7. Where is Dildo when you need her??

[lovuian]

6. Kurds know they will be needed to defend Kurdistan

against Turks and US Their not stupid
Though know what Bush & Company is about
Take Kurd troops and let them kill and get killed
The Iraqi's are onto the Bush plan is Iraqi's killing Iraqi's so his puppet regime survives... its not working

[Phrogman]

9. IMHO you're absolutely right, look at this, 10,000 Iranian Special Forces are massing..

On the border in the Kurdistan region:

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.377668256&par=0

The Saudis are upset too...

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=166789&Sn=WORL&IssueID=29295

[ohio2007]

12. The players of the 3rd world Cold War, Persians v. Saudi's and

the Sunni states of the Arab world back Saudi Arabia.

[barb162]

8. I wonder how long it will be before Iraq splits up

[pokercat999]

11. How long will it be before American forces become as

smart and as brave as the Kurds?

And if you don't think it takes more guts to desert than to just blindly follow orders.........guess again.

[ohio2007]

13. As soon as we pull enough of our troops out, the fighting over the ex state of Iraq

begins with a proxy Saudi stae and persian state.