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U.S. tries to put its best foot forward in
Kirkuk province 1.2.2007 |
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An Army colonel joins in a traditional dance in a
hearts-and-minds campaign to woo Kurds and Arabs and
forestall violence.
February 1, 2007
ALTUN KUPRI, Iraq -- A U.S. Army colonel
danced the debka at a garden party in this rural
village last month, hand in hand with half a dozen
former Kurdish guerrillas.
They were a study in contrasts: Col. Patrick
Stackpole with crisp fatigues and a blond buzz cut,
pistol strapped to his thigh, stomping along with
swarthy peshmerga fighters with thick black
mustaches, baggy shirwal pants and Muslim prayer
beads.
Stackpole's soldiers, based in nearby Kirkuk, joined
in or sat cradling automatic rifles as a military
interpreter explained the dual purpose of the dance.
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Kurdish city of Kirkuk |
"They do it for a wedding or a ceremony, something
like that," he said. "Or when they want to go to
war."
Resource-rich Kirkuk and its surrounding province
are prized by Iraq's various ethnic groups and could
soon become another full-blown battleground in the
widening civil war. The rolling hills produce 40% of
the country's oil and 70% of its natural gas.
This year, Kirkuk residents face landmark votes that
military experts say could spark sectarian violence:
on how to draw provincial borders, and whether to
conduct a census and join the semiautonomous Kurdish
regional government.
The party Stackpole attended was held on land that
had been seized from a Kurdish family and settled by
Shiite Muslims.
The property recently was returned to the original
owners. Nearby, dozens of other Kurdish refugees are
camped out in some of Saddam Hussein's former forts.
Goal of stabilizing area
Stackpole and his troops are attempting to forestall
violence with a hearts-and-minds campaign that
includes reaching out to both Kurds and Arabs,
doling out reconstruction money and reinforcing
political parties. And dancing.
"Never in my life did I think I would see a brigade
commander from an infantry unit doing this," said
Army Maj. Frank Strong, a reservist from McLean, Va.,
before joining the dance party.
The fete in this town, population 20,000, was
orchestrated by a politician who has been one of the
most receptive to U.S. overtures: provincial council
Chairman Rizgar Ali Hamajan.
The Americans are counting on Hamajan, a Kurd and
former peshmerga, to hold Kirkuk's provincial
council together. Arab and Turkmen politicians are
boycotting the council, citing a list of grievances.
Hamajan meets with them privately to sign off on
legislation and the local budget. This month, he is
to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki,
President Jalal Talabani, who is Kurdish, and the
country's two vice presidents to discuss the
upcoming votes, mandated by Iraq's new constitution.
During the party, Hamajan explained to Stackpole why
he needed more reconstruction money. Sunni Arab
insurgents are scaring off workers and investors, he
said.
"We need to have opportunities for young people
other than doing bad things, so they have someplace
to go; not just the imam from Mosul coming to teach
them bad things," Hamajan said as the electricity
flickered off and on. "We may have lost the older
generation, but we need to work with the younger
generation."
Discussion over dumplings
As they sat down to lunch at two long tables laden
with freshly grilled lamb kebabs, grilled bass,
kifta meat dumplings, bulgur wheat and rice
sprinkled with paprika, Hamajan said he was not
optimistic that violence could be controlled in
Kirkuk. After Hussein's execution in December, he
said, attacks by Sunni insurgents started to
increase.
"Now, it is chaos in Iraq," Hamajan said. He began
eating with his hands; Stackpole followed suit.
After lunch, as the military guests piled back into
their Humvees for the convoy back to their base,
they pronounced the party an exceptional occasion, a
rare chance to speak freely with politicians and
learn something about local culture.
Stackpole, who would be taunted mercilessly back at
the base about his prowess on the dance floor,
declared it "a history lesson of sorts."
latimes com
* The former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein forced
more than 250,000 Kurdish residents to give up their
homes to Arabs in the 1970s, to "Arabize" the city and the region's
oil industry.
Kirkuk city is a Kurdistani city and it lies just south border of the Kurdistan
autonomous region and it is not under the full
control of Kurdistan Regional Government
administration.
Based on Iraq's Constitution, a referendum is to be
held in late 2007 to decide whether the oil-rich
Kurdish province should be annexed to the safe
semiautonomous Kurdistan region in Iraq's north.
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