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Continued U.S. presence urged for northern
Iraq to secure oil sector
17.4.2010 |
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April
17, 2010
WASHINGTON,
— The U.S. military should maintain a major presence
in the disputed oil capital in northern Iraq,
according to a new report.
The report by the Washington Institute for Near East
Policy said the U.S. military must maintain a
significant presence in the northern Iraqi city of
Kirkuk even beyond 2011. Under a 2008 accord, the
U.S. military was scheduled to leave Iraq by 2012.
"Maintaining a U.S. military presence in Kirkuk
would provide vital crisis-management and
confidence-building support in the province's
sensitive security zones for years to come," the
report, titled "Kirkuk in Transition," said.
The report said the U.S. military has been keeping a
lid on tension between Arabs and Kurds in the Kirkuk
region. Since January 2010, U.S. forces have also
supported the deployment of the Kirkuk Combined
Security Force,www.ekurd.netdesigned
to eventually comprise six 100-man units, with each
comprising 33-man detachments from the Iraqi army,
Iraqi police and Kurdish militia, known as Peshmerga.
"Washington should retain a brigade-level
'engagement headquarters' in Kirkuk under the terms
of a future U.S.-Iraqi security agreement," the
report, authored by Michael Knights and Ahmed Ali,
said.
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Kirkuk city is historically a Kurdish city and it
lies just south border of the Kurdistan autonomous
region, Kurds have a strong cultural and emotional
attachment to Kirkuk, which they call "the Kurdish
Jerusalem." Kurds see it as the rightful and
perfect capital of an autonomous Kurdistan state.
The former regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
had forced over 250,000 Kurdish residents to give up
their homes to Arabs in the 1970s, to "Arabize" the
city and the region's oil industry. Photo by Josh
Rushing |
So far, the United
States has been recognized as a credible mediator in
the conflict between Arabs and Kurds over control of
Kirkuk. The report said Kirkuk police chiefs have
allowed U.S. forces to operate more freely than in
other areas of Iraq.
"In essence, Kurdish-led, multi-ethnic police forces
have provided the Iraqi lead on security in Kirkuk
city since 2003, when the Peshmerga pushed aside the
Baath military's 'cordon of security' to the
northwest and east," the report said. "The U.S.
military has consistently employed a light touch in
Kirkuk, regarding the city as being in safe hands
due to the fraternal postwar relations between
American and Kurdish forces."
The institute recommended that the U.S. military
establish a special training mission in Kirkuk and
ensure that it remains in place even after most
other forces have left Iraq. The report said this
should be done as close as possible to the Dec. 31,
2011, withdrawal deadline.
The report also recommended that Washington and U.S.
oil companies help train residents of the Kirkuk
region in managing the oil sector. Oil from Kirkuk
reaches the international market through Turkey in
the north.
"The U.S. government and American oil companies
should develop a trilateral industry training
initiative involving U.S. partners, Iraq's Northern
Oil Co., and the Kurdistan National Oil Co.," the
report said.
Kirkuk city is historically a Kurdish city and it
lies just south border of the Kurdistan autonomous region, the population is a
mix of majority Kurds and minority of Arabs, Christians and Turkmen, lies 250 km northeast of
Baghdad. Kurds have a strong cultural and emotional
attachment to Kirkuk, which they call "the Kurdish
Jerusalem." Kurds see it as the rightful and
perfect capital of an autonomous Kurdistan state.
Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution is related to
the normalization of the situation in Kirkuk city
and other disputed areas through having back its
Kurdish inhabitants and repatriating the Arabs
relocated in the city during the former regime’s
time to their original provinces in central and
southern Iraq.
The article also calls for conducting a census to be
followed by a referendum to let the inhabitants
decide whether they would like Kirkuk to be annexed
to the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region or having
it as an independent province.
The former regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
had forced over 250,000 Kurdish residents to give up
their homes to Arabs in the 1970s, to "Arabize" the
city and the region's oil industry.
The last ethnic-breakdown census in Iraq was
conducted in 1957, well before Saddam began his
program to move Arabs to Kirkuk. That count showed
178,000 Kurds, 48,000 Turkomen, 43,000 Arabs and
10,000 Assyrian-Chaldean Christians living in the
city.
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
worldtribune com | Agencies
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