Borzou.com

Kurds gather to join liberation by coalition; Force had to choose between

freeing traditional ethnic strongholds and joining push on Baghdad .

Borzou Daragahi, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

6 April 2003

The Washington Times

A01

Kurds in their autonomous enclave have bolstered their military presence here on the southern edge of their territory, just as the United States has begun heavy pounding of nearby Iraqi positions guarding routes to Baghdad.

A collapse of the front lines near this military command post, less than 100 miles from Baghdad , opens a clear path to both the main road from Baghdad to Kirkuk 18 miles to the west as well as numerous back roads to the capital.

With little fanfare, both Kurds and Americans have been edging ever closer toward the front, building up Kurdish ground forces and sending teams of U.S. spotters to coordinate increasing coalition air strikes along the front lines.

The number of pro-American Kurdish forces along the front line has increased from less than 400 several weeks ago to around 1,800 now and will grow to about 3,000 in the next several days, said Mola Bakhtiyar, a high-level Kurdish political and military leader in charge of the Kurds' southern front, near the oil-rich city of Khaneqin.

On Friday afternoon, an orange truck full of armed Kurdish peshmerga, or militiamen, drove toward the weakening Iraqi front that separates Kurdish and Baghdad-controlled forces. Earlier, a team of U.S. special forces stood on a low-lying hill and watched the Iraqi front, which included several bunkers.

The military attention on the northern route to Baghdad comes during a major political shift for the Kurds, who have apparently decided to hold off on their age-old dream of taking their coveted oil-rich city of Kirkuk and concentrating their energies on taking Baghdad.

"We have come to the conclusion that we might as well claim our part of this country," said Barham Salih, prime minister of the eastern half of the autonomous Kurdish government in northern Iraq . "For that to happen, we have to be in Baghdad ."

He added, " Kirkuk will not do it."

Beyond the front line here lies the city and region of Khaneqin. Just like Kirkuk , the Khaneqin region is oil-rich and mostly Kurdish, despite being subjected for decades to "Arabization" programs under which Iraq 's non-Arab minorities are deported from oil-rich areas.

The Kurds of Khaneqin say they're dying to return to their lost homes and villages.

"We're ready to take Khaneqin with our blood," said Qarib Abdullah, who lost his brother in this area in a failed 1991 Kurdish uprising against Saddam. "We are waiting for American forces to strike, and then we will immediately liberate Khaneqin."

Iraqi frontline positions in the north separating the Kurdish- controlled autonomous section from Baghdad-controlled areas have all but evaporated under coalition bombardment. Despite Baghdad 's bluster, Iraqi army deserters describe an army in disarray.

"Thousands of soldiers have fled, and no one knows where they went," said Mohammed Qassem Ali, a deputy officer in the Iraqi army's special ground forces who sneaked across lines Thursday to turn himself over to Kurdish authorities near Kalar.

Mr. Bakhtiyar, a Khaneqin native who has not visited his hometown since he left to avoid arrest as a member of the Kurdish opposition underground 28 years ago, predicted the liberation of the city would be soon at hand.

Many of the 6,000 peshmerga warriors who took part in an attack on a militant Islamic group a week ago would soon be coming here, he said. "If I had 10,000 Kalashnikovs I'd have 10,000 more fighters," he said.

Kurds have promised Americans they'll stay away from Kirkuk lest they provoke a military response from Turkey , which fears Iraqi Kurds will use the city's massive oil reserves to fund an independent state that might inspire Turkey 's Kurdish minority to revolt.

But the Kirkuk deal hasn't stopped Kurds from making advances on other oil-rich cities with significant Kurdish populations, including Mosul and the Khaneqin district, an area with a population of 350,000 and 15 oil wells. Although the Americans have told the Kurds to stay out of Kirkuk , "the Americans haven't said 'no'" to Khaneqin, Mr. Bakhtiyar said. "It's one of the closest areas that has to be liberated."

The United States has secured a promise from Turks not to invade northern Iraq if the Kurds stay away from Kirkuk . But although Kurds have occupied abandoned Iraqi positions around Kirkuk , they say they will not make a move on the city without the Americans' nod.

But Mr. Salih, speaking to reporters Thursday evening, referenced to ongoing discussions between the main Kurdish opposition groups and the U.S. military, which has a small but growing presence in the north. He said the Kurds had made a tough decision to forego Kirkuk in favor of helping in American efforts to take Baghdad .

He held open the possibility that the Kurds' 70,000 lightly armed militiamen might take part in the coalition effort to take Baghdad .

"Whether this will require us to develop a northern option, a western option, a southern option, these are matter that will have to be decided in the context of the Iraqi opposition and in consultation with the U.S. coalition," he said. "All these are being raised and are under consideration, and all to one single objective: Baghdad ."

Mr. Bakhtiyar, 49, described the Khaneqin of his youth as a place where his treasured memories and kin both rested.

"I remember everything," he said. "I remember swimming in the Alwand River with my friends. I remember gardens and wet grass. I remember the airstrip where I spent days training for soccer. I remember the graveyard where my mother was buried. I remember the cinemas and boulevards and all the tea shops and billiard halls."