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N.
Barzani calls for a Federal Democratic Parliamentary State in Iraq.
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Tension
soars in Iraqi Kurdistan as Saddam masses more troop
Iraq Press June 28, 200 President Saddam Hussein has sent more troops to northern Iraq to warn the Kurds that he will not stay idle if they join forces with the United States to topple his regime. Troops backed by tanks, artillery and rockets are now positioned a few kilometers south of Arbil, the administrative capital of the semi-independent Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq. Sources
tell Iraq Press that Saddam has sent emissaries to the leaders of the major
Kurdish factions, threatening unspecified
Iraq watchers say the United States will find it extremely difficult to move against Saddam if its Kurdish allies withheld their support. The region's two major parties - The Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan - have repeatedly expressed their concerns over Washington's declared policy of regime change in Iraq. The Kurds are worried that they may lose their current autonomy and relative prosperity whether the U.S. bid to topple Saddam Hussein succeeds or not. Their autonomous, semi-state region broke from Saddam's control 10 years ago and has since provided its mostly Kurdish population with a life relatively free of the hardships and restrictions most Iraqis face. Memories of atrocities under Saddam's rule still linger on and many people say they do not want to be merely the foot soldiers of the United States which abandoned them several times in the past. The status quo, Kurdish analysts say, is the best Iraqi Kurds have had in their recent history and their leaders are determined to preserve it as far as they can. For this reason, they are not responding to occasional provocations by Saddam's troops along the borders of their enclave. The troops fire artillery and other weapons on their areas. There has also been a dramatic increase in the number of anti-air missiles which Iraq allegedly fires on U.S. and British aircraft falling on their farms and villages. The Kurds realize that their troops, called Peshmerga, are ill-equipped, and Saddam's forces and much stronger. Without clear commitments from the United States and allies, the disparate Kurdish forces will be no match in any showdown with Iraqi troops. At the same time, the Kurds hate and mistrust Saddam and prospects of a negotiated settlement with the current regime in Baghdad are nill. Iraqi troops are visible from Kurdish towns and villages. Their heavy armor and artillery can easily overwhelm the Kurdish Peshmerga. The
Peshmerga commanders say they are not aware of what Saddam is exactly up
to. But they say he will most probably unleash
his forces against them if their leaders let the Americans use Kurdish
territory as a staging point to unseat him.
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