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Iraqi Kurdish region to take charge of own security
AFP ^ | 28 May 2007 | DJ Elliott

Posted on 05/28/2007 3:35:13 PM PDT by DJ Elliott

Iraqi Kurdistan's autonomous government will take charge of security in its mountainous northern region this week in a transfer of command from the US-led coalition, officials said.

At a ceremony Wednesday in the regional capital Arbil the commanders of the peshmerga - former anti-Baghdad guerrillas and now staunch US allies - will be handed responsibility for three northern provinces.

(Excerpt) Read more at iraqupdates.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: iraq; krg; kurds; pic; progress

1 posted on 05/28/2007 3:35:16 PM PDT by DJ Elliott
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To: DJ Elliott

Whose side are they really on?

I’ve lost track of the Kurds. A lot of them are radical Communists, and I’m not sure what the rest are. As long as they don’t attack us, this is a good thing. In fact, I think it’s good that we have disengaged from this inter-Muslim dispute.

But what does Turkey think about this?


2 posted on 05/28/2007 3:40:15 PM PDT by livius
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To: DJ Elliott

Good news.
I imagine the media will give it little notice until the
Kurds put panties on some one’s head.

the Turks will just have to deal with it.


3 posted on 05/28/2007 4:14:44 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: livius
But what does Turkey think about this?

Turkey sees them as terrorists.

4 posted on 05/28/2007 4:22:18 PM PDT by Doe Eyes
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To: Doe Eyes

It’s a very confusing situation. The Kurds are not Muslim terrorists, but many of them are terrorists or terrorist supporters, because they are flat-out leftist separatists, somewhat like ETA. If the Iraq situation didn’t exist, they would probably hate us as well. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. I’m glad we’re getting out of the mix, though.


5 posted on 05/28/2007 4:26:40 PM PDT by livius
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To: livius
The Kurds are not Muslim terrorists,

The Kurds bomb hotels is Istanbul as often as they can.

How do you define terrorist?

6 posted on 05/28/2007 4:33:48 PM PDT by Doe Eyes
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To: livius

“I’ve lost track of the Kurds. A lot of them are radical Communists, and I’m not sure what the rest are.”

The communists hate the islamofascists. I believe in that region, Communism is more ideology like China then it is criminality like in the Soviet Union.

I would love for the Kurds to take a chunk of Iran, Northern Iraq and parts of Syria for a greater Kurdistan. Let the Turkish Kurds move there and America builds their bases in the Iranportion as well as the Syrian portion.

Now that is what I call Geopolitics.


7 posted on 05/28/2007 5:07:15 PM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (If your representative will not vote for Term Limits, vote for the candidate who will.)
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To: livius

“Whose side are they really on?”

Theirs.


8 posted on 05/28/2007 6:17:16 PM PDT by Blackyce (President Jacques Chirac: "As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure.")
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To: Doe Eyes

They’re terrorists, but not motivated by Islam. They’re radical left-wing terrorists.


9 posted on 05/28/2007 6:19:58 PM PDT by livius
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To: Blackyce

Exactly. And I think we are doing the prudent thing by letting them “take responsibility” for it.

I assume that this means that we will basically remain neutral in their conflicts. They are no friends of AQ, which is good for us, but on the other hand, their leftwing separatist movement is not something in which we need to get involved.


10 posted on 05/28/2007 6:22:30 PM PDT by livius
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To: Blackyce

Yup. Welcome to RealPolitik 101. They may be bastards, but at the moment, they’re OUR bastards. And hate the Iranians as much as they hated Saddam.

I think that eventually we’ll do a Balkans and let the powers there redifine borders until each ethnic group gets a territory that they can reasonably defend.


11 posted on 05/28/2007 6:23:40 PM PDT by Philistone (Your existence as a non-believer offends the Prophet(MPBUH).)
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To: livius
They’re radical left-wing terrorists.

Is it possible that once they get a viable homeland that they might just settle down? The West has been on Turkey's side for so very long, that all they have been able to find was support from the left.

12 posted on 05/28/2007 6:30:40 PM PDT by hunter112 (Change will happen when very good men are forced to do very bad things.)
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To: hunter112

The problem is that they are separatists, like ETA and other leftwing nationalist groups. We can’t (and shouldn’t) give them a “homeland,” and if they want to work things out with Turkey, they really have to do that on their own. Drop the terrorism, for one thing; and in exchange insist on a secular government, which Turkey theoretically has but which is being undermined on a daily basis by Islamic radical political parties. But it’s really not our battle.


13 posted on 05/28/2007 6:45:38 PM PDT by livius
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To: livius
But it’s really not our battle.

I find it quite easy to agree on that!

14 posted on 05/28/2007 6:51:36 PM PDT by hunter112 (Change will happen when very good men are forced to do very bad things.)
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To: livius

F rom what I understand...which, admittedly isn’t much, the Kurds hate Arabs in general. We trained the PeshMergah(sp?) so , at this point, they like us. From friends who have been up there, the Kurdish region is pretty Westernized thanks to the “no fly zones. I think if they eventually get their own homeland, the signs are pretty good (not great)that they will continue to support the US effort in the Middle East. But, honestly, who knows?


15 posted on 05/28/2007 7:18:25 PM PDT by CatTrader
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