Trouble among the allies
It seems that as the time for war approaches, some of our Iraqi allies (meaning the opposition groups outside Iraq and the Kurds inside Iraq) have started to become wary about what the future holds. Apparently they don’t trust us not to screw them over the way we did at the end of the last Gulf War.
First, there’s this BBC article about the opposition groups:
“As the United States continues its efforts to seek a second UN resolution authorising the use of force against Iraq, the prospect of divisions between Washington and Iraqi opposition groups has emerged.
A prominent Iraqi opposition group in exile has rejected any attempt to impose any form of foreign administration over Iraq, not even a transitional one, in a post-Saddam era.”
All of this talk about a U.S. military governor for Iraq doesn’t sit too well with those groups which represent what passes for an opposition-in-exile, who were for some reason under the impression that after any war they’d be involved in a new democratic government. Now they’re beginning to realize that the future may hold something very different.
Then there’s this article about the Kurds:
“In the most blunt warning yet, senior officials of the two big Kurdish factions – the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and its rival, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) – have warned that if Turkish troops cross the border for any reason there will be trouble.
The KDP and PUK have run affairs in an enclave in the north of Iraq since 1991.
The KDP’s peshmerga guerrillas control the border regions seen as a possible route for Turkish forces.
KDP spokesman Hoshyar Zebari said: ‘We will oppose any Turkish military intervention. This is our decision.
‘Nobody should [think] we are bluffing on this issue. This is a very serious matter. Any intervention, under whatever pretext, will lead to clashes.'”
The Kurds are upset because apparently any deal between the U.S. and Turkey to allow the basing of a U.S. invasion force in their country will include allowing the Turks to basically invade and hold northern Iraq. Given the way the Turks have treated the Kurds in the past, it’s easy to understand why the Kurds aren’t at all happy with this idea.
