I wonder what will happen with this. If the Kurds try to broaden their power what will Turkey or Iran do? Is the US giving secret support to the Kurds so as not to arouse the ire of Turkey? Or, are the Kurds trying to help Hussein by trying to alter the playing field? Things like this are not expressed publicly without reason.
WASHINGTON – Iraqi Kurdish military commander Hamid Efendi said yesterday that his forces would try to capture nearby oil-rich areas if the United States strikes at Saddam Hussein’s regime.
The Kurdish goal of extending their authority to the prized oil fields around the northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul – outside the Western-protected Kurdish enclave – carries military and political risks that could trouble Pentagon planners.
Iraqi Kurdish fighters could face direct combat with the more powerful Iraqi forces and open a new front that might divert attention from the goal of toppling Hussein. It would also enrage neighboring Turkey, which controls crucial trade routes for the landlocked Iraqi Kurds.