Iraq's simmering ethnic war over Kirkuk

"Tensions are rising between Kurdish, Arab, and Turkmen factions over power and populations in the province, the heart of northern Iraq's oil industry.

Graffiti inside this city's ancient hilltop citadel quickly spells out the tension between Kirkuk's three main ethnic groups; Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen."

"On one wall, an eagle descends on a two-headed serpent meant to symbolize enemies of the Kurdish nation. Next to it, the word "Arab" is erased and replaced with an etched "Kurdish" in a slogan that once read: "Kirkuk is an Arab city." Another slogan reads: "Kirkuk is Turkmen."

Kirkuk has been the object of a bitter struggle over the past five years among Iraq's competing ethnic and sectarian groups. And now Arab, Kurd, and Turkmen factions seem to be digging in, anticipating that tensions may erupt in an area that is the center of northern Iraq's oil industry ahead of a promised referendum on the fate of Kirkuk Province, officially still called Tamim, its previous Baath Party-era name.

Article 140 of Iraq's Constitution was supposed to resolve the issue by the end of 2007 but the deadline for a vote has been extended to the end of June in the hopes that the United Nations may be able to broker a solution by then.

But with or without a referendum, Kurds maintain that almost the entirety of Kirkuk Province, of which the city of Kirkuk is the capital, is a natural part of their semiautonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq. Arabs and Turkmen, on the other hand, say Article 140 is now "null and void" and that other solutions must be devised.

In general, Turkmen support a semi-independent Kirkuk Province while Arabs back the idea of the central government remaining in control.

Meanwhile, the United States is exerting a mix of coercion and incentives to prevent the feuding parties from battling each other over the issue.

But already local security officials say a simmering conflict is under way with no day going by without a tit-for-tat kidnapping or assassination involving a member of the city's three competing population groups. Turkmen and Arab leaders say hundreds of their own have been jailed inside Kurdistan."

Source: the always excellent Christian Science Monitor

Commentary: the problems within this region are large, and I fear they will eventually spill out to affect the entire world. The old ethnic hatreds are strong. Add to that the enticements of oil money, the lust for power, and Al-Qaeda quick moves into fragmented regions, and Iraq is in for even larger problems ahead.

This is part of a continuing series on the situation. The Christian Science Monitor's work simply must not be missed.

Talking Turkey: Aunt Nancy, Uncle Sam & Turkish Demands

This is a fine mess. First Turkey was so miffed over the now-tabled Congressional "Turkish genocide" resolution that its ambassador flounced back home.

Now Turkey is demanding that the U.S.take military action against Kurdish fighters on Turkey's borders: or else. From flounce to hardball bounce, Turkey is making it clear that the U.S. is, apparently, among its subject states.

Of course, if the U.S. bows to their demands, then the U.S. will be excoriated worldwide for bringing in troops to support Turkey. If the U.S. doesn't send in troops, then the U.S. will be denounced for not sending in troops in Turkey's long-running domestic dispute.

It's a clear win-win for Turkey in their undeclared diplomatic war with the U.S. With the Turks spending millions on lobbying in the U.S., it's obvious that someone else will have to pay for aid to their poor, and their wars. And who better than Uncle Sam?

The complex issue takes on another strata of shakiness when the actions of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are examined. Pelosi, who assumed presidential airs as she jetted around the world on her own foreign policy trip, has fought against the support of American troops in Iraq.

At the same time, she cozied up to Syria, among others, and was one of the leaders calling for the Turkish genocide resolution. But when political shots were fired on the issue, Pelosi waffled and wavered.

Now Turkey wants real American guns on their side, on their borders. With Turkey's demands for firepower from Uncle Sam, will Aunt Nancy suddenly decide that wars abroad aren't a bad idea after all? Will she stand firm when pro-Turkey lobbyists tout "terrorism" as the reason for the U.S. to storm Kurdish ramparts?

What happens if Turkey's "or else" comes into play? The first threat is that Turkey will shut down an American air base used to support our troops in Iraq. In diplo-speak, that's called a "review" of the access. But Turkey's also mumbling about taking action against the U.S. in vague and seemingly-sinister ways.

So here's how the table looks: Turkey's battling Kurds & the PKK. The U.S. is at war in Iraq, and using Turkish land for an air base. Turkey, wanting everyone to just forget about the l.5 million Armenians slaughtered in 1917, is focused now on the Kurds.

Pass the war plate, please--with American aid. If not, Turkey will, at the very least, with-hold the American base biscuit. But now comes the key question: where's the gravy on this menu?

This Turkey is covered in gravy. Back in 2002, U.S. largess to Turkey included an arranged $16 billion IMF bailout and a $228 million US aid package. Plus specialized free trade arrangements for dessert.

OK, so buying allies gets more expensive all the time. In fact, in 2003 Turkey demanded $32 billion in U.S. funds. In 2006, Turkey had $10 million to spend on the anti-American, anti-Semetic film "Valley of the Wolves--Iraq."

Today it was announced that the U.S. is sending another $10 billion in aid to Turkey. That alone is a pretty darned good rental price for some land for a military base.

Not only that, The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are shipping in another $10 billion loan. Seems the $11.5 billion sent to Turkey just two months ago didn't go all tha far.

But then again, a reliable friend and ally is a good buy, right? Let's look at Turkey's role in World War II. Ostensibly neutral, Turkey actually made a darned good profit by being Nazi Germany's sole supplier of chromite, used to harden steel for weapons and armaments.

When it finally became apparent which way the war cookie was crumbling, Turkey lost no time in declaring "war" on Germany in 1945. Why? Turkey wanted a seat in the U.S. and the belated war declaration was its purchase price.

For awhile, Turkey eagerly jumped on the American lunch wagon. But, its feelings hurt by European Union humans rights charges and the 1997 declaration naming Turkey as unfit to join the EU, Turkey began biting the hand that feeds them.

Turkist Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2004 accused the U.S. of "state terror." In 2003 Turkey lashed out against the Iraq war, saying that the U.S. campaign "lacked international legitimacy." In the mounting anti-U.S., pro-radical Islamist climate, the American government was compared to Hitler.

This from a country with its hand out for American largess and one repeatedly cited by Human Rights Watch for torture, attacks on civilians, and massive displacements of civilian populations? Apparently, Turkey is under the illusion that it can take U.S. money, tell the U.S. what it is to do, and threaten the U.S. with Turkish reprisals should Turkey's gravy get watered down.

Perhaps it's time for the U.S. to remind Turkey: at the great banquet table of world leaders, especially those who practice freedom and democracy, Turkey is well, very small potatoes.

"Baby Boomer" UFO Craze Hits 60 as UFOs Appear in Turkey

Presidential wannabe Hillary Clinton, one of the poster children for the narcissistic branch of the Baby Boomers family tree, is now 60. Last night she and Bill, the presidential has-been, partied down with Elvis Costello, Billy Crystal, and folks who paid up to $2,000 a head to come to the NYC party.

But hers aren't the only candles and the only cake. This year, the modern UFO craze turns 60 too. Not only that, the year's significance hits a triple fruit on the old slot machine of coincidence.

Most importantly, there was Roswell, NM. where a UFO with aliens aboard reportedly crashed in the New Mexico desert. The fallout from that crash--which official sources said was only a weather balloon accident--continues with tales of autopsies on dead aliens, removal of live aliens, secret research on aliens at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. and those Men in Black.

After Roswell, the term "flying saucer" became a part of our official, everyday English. The Washington Post, in a rock 'n roll riff of offbeat news, cheerfully reported that it was only 55 (numerologists, take note!) years ago that the paper ran headlines like: 'Saucer' Outran Jet, Pilot Reveals" and "D.C. Girl Sees Saucer Float Under Clouds" as UFOs paraded around DC.

And the gold rush of ufology was on. Like panning for gold, looking for that elusive sparkle of a real UFO event--not just glittery fool's gold--is hard work. Then there's the testing phase, which is done in the laboratory of human experience and reaction.

If you didn't have the big bucks for Hillary's conga line, there's still a chance to party down, and for no more than $40. A day-long UFO conference, Mysteries of Space and Sky IV: Sixty Years of UFOs, will beam into DC's Anne Arundel Community College Saturday. Various luminaries of the celestial mysteries world will present case studies of UFOs.

And if you miss that event, not to worry. The topic of UFOs is hot, and the candles on this cake aren't likely to go out anytime soon. In fact, in the midst of the Turkey-Iraq-PPK tensions, UFOs have been spotted in the region, some say.




And, as that jazzy little song says "Everything old is new again." The craze for UFOs in the modern era has expanded to denials of America's landing on the moon, which co-exists with a belief that there are top-secret bases on the moon,alien and human.

UFO sightings, crop circles, claims of astronauts seeing strange things in space (usually mostly sparkles from spacecraft debris), aliens, alien abductions--they're all part of the standard daily mix these days. But hey--what do I know? I've read Project Blue Book (the Condon Report), interviewed UFO witnesses, visited Roswell, and have an "Area 51" parking permit on my car. (Disclaimer--perhaps you'd better ask about that permit.)

UFOs, and the purported aliens among us-as well as the jet-setting aliens who only drop in to visit or probe us--are alive and well in books, movies, documentaries, on the lecture circuit and on the internet. Aging well--not that they haven't been sporadically reported for thousands of years-- those strange sightings of crafts and beings have become part of our planetary culture.

Klaatu barada nikto, ya'll.