NYT, pg 1: Kurds Advancing to Reclaim Land in Northern Iraq

[DeepModem Mom]

Kurds Advancing to Reclaim Land in Northern Iraq
By DEXTER FILKINS

Published: June 20, 2004


MAKHMUR, Iraq, June 17 — Thousands of ethnic Kurds are pushing into lands formerly held by Iraqi Arabs, forcing tens of thousands of them to flee to ramshackle refugee camps and transforming the demographic and political map of northern Iraq.

The Kurds are returning to lands from which they were expelled by the armies of Saddam Hussein and his predecessors in the Baath Party, who ordered thousands of Kurdish villages destroyed and sent waves of Iraqi Arabs north to fill the area with supporters.

The new movement, which began with the fall of Mr. Hussein, appears to have quickened this spring amid confusion about American policy, along with political pressure by Kurdish leaders to resettle the areas formerly held by Arabs. It is happening at a moment when Kurds are threatening to withdraw from the national government if they are not confident of having sufficient autonomy.

In Baghdad, American officials say they are struggling to keep the displaced Kurds on the north side of the Green Line, the boundary of the Kurdish autonomous region. The Americans agree that the Kurds deserve to return to their ancestral lands, but they want an orderly migration to avoid ethnic strife and political instability....


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/international/middleeast/20KURD.html

[shraby]

1. Chalk another mess up for

Georgie.

[DeepModem Mom]

7. Indeed, "they dropped the ball" -- from the article:

"Peter W. Galbraith, a former United States ambassador, who has advised the Kurdish leadership, said he recommended a claim system for Kurds and Arabs to Pentagon officials in late 2002. Nothing was put in place on the ground until last month, he said, long after the Kurds began to move south of the Green Line.

'The C.P.A. adopted a sensible idea, but it required rapid implementation,' Mr. Galbraith said. 'They dropped the ball, and facts were created on the ground. Of course people are going to start moving. If the political parties are encouraging this, that, too, is understandable.'"

[0rganism]

2. Is this the beginning of the pending civil war in Iraq?

Looks like it could be. June 30 is 10 days away. Maybe the Kurds are maneuvering for a territorial advantage.

[hel]

3. They definitely are pushing for more land

while they can. How do you know which Arabs (and although the article does not mention them, Turkomens) are settled there by Saddam, and who really owns which land? You just cannot.

I'm hoping they won't massacre non-Kurds there.

[Seabiscuit]

4. Can you blame the Kurds?

After Reagan handed Saddam his WMDs, and he used them against the Kurds to take over their land, can you blame the Kurds for wanting what is theirs???

Man, these Repukes suck.

[CookieD]

5. Tick-tick-tick ... n/t

[tlcandie]

6. Isn't this what Iran said they would not allow a LONG time ago?

:shrug: