[Sleeping Beauty]

There is an 800 Lb Gorilla in the room regarding “Kurdistan” becoming a seperate nation. That Gorilla’s name is Turkey.

That's why we need to send our troops -- to protect them while they get sovereignty.

That oil does NOT belong to the Turks. Let them join the EU and STFU.

[dakine]

“That’s why we need to send our troops”

What troops? Getting tired of this nation building....

[tobyhill]

It’s kind of amazing that everyone in the world is so worried about the Sunnis getting a piece of the Iraqi action but I can’t help to wonder, why give them a piece of the action since Saddam was a Sunni and Al-Qaeda are Sunnis? Let Saudi Arabia or some other Sunni nation take care of them. Iraq has always been predominately Shiite and if the Sunnis want to stay then they are at the directives of the Shiites and not “equal rights”.

[Old Retired Army Guy]

The Turks primary concerns are not the oil or even the Iraqi Kurds. What they worry about is that a separate Kurdistan would spark a civil war in the Kurdish portion of Turkey in an effort by Turkish Kurds to partition off the southwest portion of Turkey that has a Kurd majority and join an independent Kurdistan. This is a real flashpoint for Turkey and they would definitely send in their troops to protect their interests. The Iraqi Kurds need to make the oil sharing deal and make it soon. It is the center of any political arrangement to a peaceful Iraq.