Massoud Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Democratic
Party "President of Kurdistan
Region Government",
also said Kurds would never dissolve their militias
and repeated demands for the return of ethnic Kurds
to the oil-rich Kirkuk area from which tens of
thousands of them were expelled under Saddam
Hussein.
Barzani's comments, broadcast by Al-Arabiya
television, indicated the Kurds are standing firm on
longtime demands at a time when the United States is
urging all sides to compromise in order to finish
the new constitution by the Aug. 15 deadline. |
President of Kurdistan
Region Government Masoud Barzani |
|
His remarks were broadcast as Defense Secretary
Donald H. Rumsfeld arrived in Baghdad to urge the
Iraqis not to miss the deadline for completing the
draft of the constitution. The Defense Department
wields considerable influence among the Kurds, who
worked closely with the Americans in preparations
for the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam.
``It's time for a compromise. That's what politics
are about and people are simply going to have to
recognize that (in) any constitutional drafting
process, compromise is necessary. It's important.
It's understandable. It's the way democratic systems
work,'' Rumsfeld said.
At a joint news conference with Rumsfeld, Prime
Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said the time has
arrived to plan a coordinated transition from
American to Iraqi military control throughout the
country.
Asked how soon a U.S. withdrawal should happen, he
said no exact timetable had been set. ``But we
confirm and we desire speed in that regard,'' he
said, speaking through a translator.
Speaking earlier with U.S. reporters traveling with
Rumsfeld, Gen. George Casey, the top American
commander in Iraq, said he believed a U.S. troop
withdrawal could begin by spring 2006 if progress
continues on the political front and if the
insurgency does not expand.
In ongoing violence, a bomb exploded Wednesday near
a U.S. Army patrol in central Iraq, killing one
soldier and wounding five others, the U.S. command
said.
The attack occurred in Salaheddin province in the
Sunni Triangle north of Baghdad, a center of the
anti-American insurgency. The soldiers were assigned
to Task Force Liberty based in Tikrit but their
names were not immediately released, the U.S.
command said.
Preliminary drafts of the Iraq's constitution call
for disbanding all militias associated with Iraqi
parties since the days when they were fighting
Saddam. The Kurds have long maintained that their
peshmerga fighters are not a militia but rather the
security force of their autonomous Kurdish region in
the north.
However, it is unlikely that the Shiites and others
would accept an end to their own militias if the
Kurds are allowed to keep their peshmerga fighters.
``The peshmergas will stay and there is no force
that will be able to cancel them,'' Barzani said. He
said the issue of Kirkuk must be resolved according
to a formula the Kurds accepted before U.S.
authorities restored Iraqi sovereignty - which
states that all Iraqis, including Kurds, who were
displaced under Saddam Hussein's regime have the
right to return to their homes and receive
compensation.
That could anger many Sunni Arabs, who were moved
into the Kirkuk area after the Kurds were expelled,
and also Turkomen, who consider Kirkuk as their
homeland too. Turkey has given strong support to the
demands of their Iraqi ethnic kinsmen.
Many Sunni Arabs are also suspicious of federalism,
fearing it would lead to the breakup of the nation.
Federalism also raises questions about the
distribution of oil revenues, including how much
should go to the central government and how much to
any regional federated districts.
AP
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