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Old 06-07-2005, 04:52 PM   #74 (permalink)
jorgelito
All important elusive independent swing voter...
 
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Location: People's Republic of KKKalifornia
There is an interesting dynamic going on in the north right now too that may contribute to levels of reporting.

Turkey, Syria, and Iran are very concerned at developments in Kurdish areas as they have their own restive Kurds who may be influenced by developments in northern Iraq. For example, if some charismatic Kurdish cleric/leader unified all the Kurds and advocated independence and nationalization of the oil fields in Kirkuk et al, the situation would get real hairy, real quick. Kurds in Syria, Iran, and Turkey may try and follow suit or "seced" their areas to join a greater Kurdistan. That would create precedent. Most major powers and junior powers do not wish to see this happen for fear of a domino effect (EX: Timor, Kashmir, Tibet, Basque, etc).

The US supports Turkey (EU bid, NATO bid) as a hedge or thorn in Europe (to keep them in disarray) and as a friendly, democratic Muslim nation in the region. During the early stages of the invasion, Turkey sent soldiers to secure Mosul for fear of Kurds and possibly to gain some spoils of war but were told not to by the US so they retreated.

So the situation is awkward: The US often espouses supporting democracy and freedom for people but the reality is we rarely mean it (EX: lack of support for Taiwan). To support Kurds on humanitarian grounds and our own principles of democracy and freedom would alienate our ally Turkey as well as cause unrest in the region.

Also, Mosul has not been hit as hard with insurgent activity (at least reported) since the elections. Basra (in the south) has also been relatively quiet. In the US zone, Baghdad, is the most restive and insurgent due to the heavy Sunnis (who lost power and privilege) population.

An interesting note: Kurds are Sunni. Make me wonder why all the hostility. Just cause they're not Arab? What happened to Muslim brotherhood?
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