Well it looks like the "secritarian devides" has moved north into the "peaceful" Kurdish region. Kirkuk forced relocation.
Arabs in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk protested against a decision Monday by a government committee to relocate them to their places of origin in central and southern Iraq.
The Arab Republican Union (ARU), an organization representing Arabs living in oil-rich Kirkuk, on Monday discussed the decision to remove thousands of Arabs who had relocated to Kirkuk in the Saddam era and to pay them compensation. The ARU refused to accept both decisions.
http://aawsat.com/...
- The Iraqi Supreme Committee has issued a decision for the application of Article 140 of its permanent constitution, which seeks the normalization of the situation in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk. The decision specifies the return of the Arabs, who had come to reside in Kirkuk [as a result of the Arabization policy], to their places of origin in central and southern Iraq,
http://english.aljazeera.net/...
"The committee will allot them a lot of land and pay 25,000 US dollars [per household] as compensation", he said. The decision will now be sent to the Iraqi cabinet for approval.
The decision will only apply to Arabs who arrived in Kirkuk during the "Arabisation" campaign of Saddam Hussein's government; a move that seems certain to anger the Arab settlers.
It looks like the bombings have come to the north.
http://www.emilitary.org/...
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4, 2007 – Seven car bombs, including one suspected suicide car bomb, detonated in various parts of Kirkuk this morning, killing three people and injuring 22 others, Multinational Forces Iraq officials reported.
...
"These are horrific acts of violence that test the people's resolve," Stackpole said. "The number of attacks today demonstrates an effort by the insurgents to destabilize the city and destroy the people’s confidence."
The explosions appeared to be an organized effort to undermine the local government and raise public fear. Officials noted that two of the car bombs detonated near separate offices headed by Kurdish political parties.
http://www.alertnet.org/...
KIRKUK - Two bombs detonated in quick succession in southern Kirkuk on Monday evening, wounding eight people, police said.
Now the real threat...Turkey.
http://english.sabah.com.tr/...
"Kurds are systematically taking control of Kirkuk. Possible tension would increase violence. Controlling Kirkuk would strengthen Kurds for autonomy which would direct Turks for a cross border attack"
A large scale 90 page Iraq situation report revealed on last Friday has reflected the U.S Secretary of Defense Robert Gates's worries for a possible Turkish cross border attack to Iraq.
Is this war getting better, or a lot worse much faster? I think the later is more like it.
This was all predictable. But Bush was the decider and Cheney Cooked the Books to get us into this god awful war.
BTW: I support the Kurds(not article 140), I think they deserve protection from Turkey. Will we have the army to help them? I fear we might not.
(UPDATE)Info on Kurdistan
gjohnsit: Kurdistan problem I
Kurdistan problem II
Kurdistan Problem III