Kurd commanders unimpressed by the Allied assault

Independent UK ^ | March 24, 2003 | Patrick Cockburn

[AntiGuv]

General Nasrudin Mustafa, commander of the Kurdish forces north of Kirkuk, was just finishing a sentence, saying: "There is nothing new happening on my front." But as he spoke the last word there a thunderous roar, his headquarters building shook and the door of his office rattled on its hinges.

A US aircraft had just bombed the long, dark ridge on the Iraqi side of the front line which protects the city of Kirkuk and its oilfields. General Mustafa, who usually plays down the significance of skirmishing between his men and the Iraqi army, looked briefly impressed, saying: "Well, I haven't seen that before."

War is slowly coming to northern Iraq and is likely to be hastened by the setbacks to the US-led coalition in the south of the country.

Major-General Henry Osman of the US Marines arrived yesterday, the first openly visible sign of the several hundred American troops who have been landing under cover of darkness for the past three days.

Kurdish officials reported bombing near the city of Mosul, and a Reuters television crew heard a powerful explosion near Arbil. So far the Kurds – Iraqis themselves and with decades of experience of warfare against Baghdad behind them – are singularly unimpressed by the US and British coalition assault.

Struggling to say something polite about Allied strategy, Hoshyar Zebari, a veteran Kurdish leader, said: "People in Iraq are beginning to think that they [the US and Britain] are not invincible. There have been no major victories: Umm Qasr and Basra have not fallen as was announced."

He criticised the Allies for making a headlong dash for Baghdad without securing the cities on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers or trying to use the support of local people opposed to President Saddam Hussein.

He said: "The impression Iraqis are getting is that there are no Iraqis involved in this campaign, but this is an occupation."

The criticism is somewhat self-serving. The Kurds, with perhaps 70,000 peshmerga under their command, believe the longer the war goes on the more likely that the US will have to call on them, along with small numbers of US troops, to open a northern front against President Saddam.

This would help the Kurds to return to the provinces of Kirkuk and Mosul, from which 300,000 of them were ethnically cleansed by President Saddam, and give them a strong hand to play in post-war settlement.

So far, the war has been very unlike the triumph of the US-led forces in 1991, Kurdish leaders point out. Iraq has had a string of little successes such as the downing of a helicopter, the capture of US ground troops, and there has been no uprising of Kurds and Shia Muslims as there was after the Gulf War.

The latter has not happened because the US did not want it and Iraqi security has been much tighter than it was 12 years ago.

Disappointment with Allied performance so far is wide-spread among Kurds and not confined to their leaders. In Sifaya, a village of smugglers and farmers on the Zaab river, a mile from Iraqi government-controlled territory, people watch every step of the war on local television.

These days, they have suspended smuggling to Mosul because it is too dangerous and they have drawn up their boats on the bank of the Zaab. But they think President Saddam is a long way from falling. Khalil Ibrahim, a local leader, said: "The war is too cold. It is not warm enough yet."

Even in Kurdistan, where the US is popular and where President Saddam committed some of his worst atrocities, there are flickers of Iraqi patriotism. A Kurdish official, who has devoted years to opposing the government in Baghdad, admitted: "It would have been better if the invasion had been with the mandate of the UN and not just by the US and Britain.

"Iraqis won't like to see American soldiers ripping down posters of Saddam Hussein though they might like to do it themselves. They didn't enjoy watching the Stars and Stripes being raised near Umm Qasr."

So far, the northern front has been a fiasco. A month ago the US was expected to land 62,000 troops, their armour and transport and 310 aircraft and helicopters in Turkey.

This would be the northern pincer of a two-pronged attack on Baghdad with the other pincer advancing from Kuwait in the south.

But the refusal of the Turkish parliament to sanction US use of Turkish bases lopped off the northern pincer.

But the sudden appearance of General Osman at a press conference in the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Salahudin yesterday marked an escalation of US involvement in northern Iraq.

He announced, in a statement written in peculiarly lumbering prose, that he was there to establish the military co-ordination and liaison command. This will "synchronise humanitarian support operations, assist in the deconfliction of humanitarian and military activities, and co-ordinate relief in northern Iraq". It will operate in south-east Turkey and northern Iraq.

In reality, General Osman is here to prevent the Turks fighting the Kurds, and vice versa. The Turkish government has said it wants to send troops into Iraqi Kurdistan to stop an outflow of refugees into Turkey. There is no sign of such refugees, but the presence of General Osman, based in Salahudin and Silopi in Turkey, will, the Kurds hope, make it more difficult for the Turkish army to invade them. There are thousands of Turkish troops already massed on the border.

[Rodney King]

War is slowly coming to northern Iraq and is likely to be hastened by the setbacks to the US-led coalition in the south of the country.

What setbacks? 20 soldiers have died in a war with 1 million men under arms? That's a setback?

[Shermy]

All the world watches CNN.

[ConservativeVoice]

The Kurds wouldn't know a sophisticated campaign, even if it liberated baghdad in a day.

These are primitive peasants, whose concept of warfare probably stops just short of 1980.

They're judgements regarding our effectiveness would be like the Gauls criticizing Julius Caesar because he didn't use mass charges and his soldiers weren't hairy enough.

The best thing really would be for the Turks to come in and end the destabilizing influence of the Kurds once and for all.

[ConservativeVoice]

The Kurds wouldn't know a sophisticated campaign, even if it liberated baghdad in a day.

These are primitive peasants, whose concept of warfare probably stops just short of 1980.

They're judgements regarding our effectiveness would be like the Gauls criticizing Julius Caesar because he didn't use mass charges and his soldiers weren't hairy enough.

The best thing really would be for the Turks to come in and end the destabilizing influence of the Kurds once and for all.

[Leisler]

"General Nasrudin Mustafa( while picking his long haired nose ) commander of the Kurdish forces north of Kirkuk( ( all twelve of them ), was just finishing a sentence, saying: "There is nothing new happening on my front,I wished I had a new boy" But as he spoke the last word there a thunderous roar, his headquarters building shook and the door of his office rattled on its hinges and both his teeth.

Like we care for this bung wipe.

[45Auto]

"So far the Kurds – Iraqis themselves and with decades of experience of warfare against Baghdad behind them – are singularly unimpressed by the US and British coalition assault".

This must be another piece of propaganda from a lefty news source. If it wasn't for the Brits and the US enforcing a no-fly zone over the northern Kurd area for the last 12 years, there would be NO Kurds left to be unimpressed.

[Robert_Paulson2]

20 dead is a good weekend traffic mortality rate in LA and NYC... or drivebys...

These are not setbacks... these are lives that were willingly and enthusiastically invested by brave and courageous heros and patriots... and the results, THEY FELT, would be worth it.

We must never let the pukes get by with lowering the incredible value of the lives we invest and the blood we give, for liberty freedom and all who threaten our way of life...

God bless these lives invested in America's liberty and strangely enough, Iraqi liberty as well...

God carry the families and friends of those who have paid this incredible price, for the just cause of liberty... and heal our grief... for we have offered our very very best...

From a tactical measurment point.. the results thus far have been rather stunning. Thank God's mercy for the GREAT level of force protection we have enjoyed...

[arkady_renko]

War is slowly coming to northern Iraq and is likely to be hastened by the setbacks to the US-led coalition in the south of the country.

Excuse me, but what friggin' setbacks?

Eat cheese and die.

A_R

[microgood]

This reminds me so much of early in the campaign for Afghanastan, different ethnic group in the north, whining about lack of air support, wanting to make sure they get their share of power by doing the fighting... Maybe that is why we are playing it the same way, we have been here.

[Timmy]

Yawn. I remember almost the exact same story about the Northern Alliance commanders . . .

[Rodney King]

well said!

[spunkets]

" So far the Kurds – Iraqis themselves and with decades of experience of warfare against Baghdad behind them – are singularly unimpressed by the US and British coalition assault. "

An unremarkable statement, attributed to folks that have performed less than remarkable in their decades of dealings with the sodomites.

[muawiyah]

The Gauls were probably less hairy than the fellows Julius Caesar took along with him on his campaigns. Hence, it is likely the Gauls wouldn't have complained about relative hairiness.

On the other hand the Kurds are not all simple herdsmen! Salaldin, one of the most successful of conquerors in the Middle East was a Kurd.

[sam_paine]

If it wasn't for the Brits and the US enforcing a no-fly zone over the northern Kurd area for the last 12 years, there would be NO Kurds left to be unimpressed.

Exactamundo.

[Yardstick]

Good points and this was an especially good sentence: "They're judgements regarding our effectiveness would be like the Gauls criticizing Julius Caesar because he didn't use mass charges and his soldiers weren't hairy enough".

From the article, I thought this was an interesting insight from the Kurdish guy:

"Iraqis won't like to see American soldiers ripping down posters of Saddam Hussein though they might like to do it themselves."

In hindsight, maybe we should've stood back and let the Iraqis do the defacing. A small point perhaps, but these little symbolic things do have an effect.

[Mike Darancette]

Maybe the Kurds should use some of their Cruise Missiles, Jet Aircraft, Tanks, Helicopters,....

[Redcloak]

Aren't they just so cute when they run around calling each other "General" and such?

[ApesForEvolution]

What a collective group of butt-plungers in the entire islamocrap region. These guys sound a lot like that the whiny Northern Alliance in Ashcanistan...

[swheats]

So far, the war has been very unlike the triumph of the US-led forces in 1991, Kurdish leaders point out. Iraq has had a string of little successes such as the downing of a helicopter, the capture of US ground troops, and there has been no uprising of Kurds and Shia Muslims as there was after the Gulf War.

They ambushed mechanics. That gives them a reason to gloat?