Tuesday, March 11, 2003

Hatreds Steeped in Blood -- Kristof

NYTimes -- Many Kurds hate Turks with the kind of enmity steeped in blood and ripened by centuries of antagonism, and in the confusion of war some Kurd will surely seize the opportunity to toss a grenade into a truck full of Turkish troops. That's when Turkish and Kurdish units will begin slaughtering each other.

The unfolding mess in northern Iraq is a reminder that if we invade Iraq, we are stepping into an immensely complex region of guns, clans and hostilities that we only dimly understand. The White House thinks it can choreograph the warfare, but if we can't control effete gavel-wielding diplomats on the familiar turf of the United Nations, how will we manage feuding troops with mortars in the mountains of northern Iraq?

The nightmare is that the Turks, Kurds, Iraqis and Americans will all end up fighting over the oil fields of Kirkuk or Mosul.

"Kurds are always in conflict," explained Mursel Karacam, a 40-year-old chestnut vendor in Istanbul, as he plied me with fresh-roasted nuts. "We would go in and teach them how to be civilized, how to live in peace."

Gee, I can't count how often I have heard this. And in more proof that God is an Iron, the U.S. is now trying to stop Turkey from unilaterally invading Iraq to stop Kurdish terrorism.

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