US Abdandons Kurds [Again] Early in the Game?

["M. Junaid Alam" <redjaguar@xxxxxxxxx>]

[Quoting myself a bit here, from yesterday's Huato episode]

"No one is arguing in such provincial and ridiculous terms about the
"impossibility" of US success in annihilating the Iraqi army. The real issue
lies with the administration's overall long-term plans in the region, the
possibility of more regime-changing and occupying, and the inevitable
backlash stemming from making deals with opposing forces, ie. Kurds and
Turks, Arab monarchies and Arab masses, Israel and Iran, etc."
===
Kurds prepare own army
By Borzou Daragahi
THE WASHINGTON TIMES


     DOHUK, Iraq - Soldiers of the Kurdistan army march in circles to
martial music on a cracked, weed-choked asphalt parade ground. The band
can't keep a beat, and the cymbal is cracked and bent. But the soldiers
can't help but smile at the handful of visitors here to watch.
     They may be poorly trained, ill-equipped and upset at receiving little
or no help from the United States, but they have a front-row view of Saddam
Hussein's war preparations.
     Even the Kurds' U.S.-made camouflage uniforms were bought on the open
market.
     "They haven't given us anything," says Babekir Zebari, commander of the
army in the Kurdish Iraqi province of Dohuk. "And there has been no
communication or any word."
     Unlike the neighboring countries, "Kurdistan" has no draft, and
military service is voluntary.
     It also has no air force. Under rules of the U.S.- and
British-patrolled no-fly zones, it probably couldn't fly one anyway. The
military has one or two tanks and a few rocket-propelled grenades, military
officials say.



REST: http://washingtontimes.com/world/20021016-3236032.htm




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