Word: barzanis
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...Kurds The Players: A non-Arab minority comprising 25 percent of the Iraqi population, who have enjoyed de facto autonomy under U.S. protection in northern Iraq since the Gulf War in 1991. The most politically cohesive of Iraq's ethnic communities, they are led by Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani, two leaders who have settled their factional differences in order to present a united front in pursuit of enhanced autonomy in the new Iraq. And between them, Talabani and Barzani command 70,000 "peshmerga" militia fighters...
...Iraq has elected a representative assembly. Already angered by their limited representation in the new government, Kurdish leaders sounded the alarm when Sistani persuaded the UN to avoid endorsing the interim constitution in its recent resolution backing the transfer of authority on June 30. In response Talabani and Barzani warned the U.S. that unless the interim constitution is upheld, the Kurds will boycott the January election and effectively walk away from the new Iraq. Easier said than done, of course - preventing a Kurdish breakaway is a priority that unites such traditional rivals as Turkey, Syria and Iran, each of them...
...same issue assumed a new intensity. The five opposition groups tapped by General Jay Garner to form the nucleus of a transitional government held a meeting in the city on Thursday. But rather than form a government themselves, the five - the leaders of the two main Kurdish parties, Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani; Ahmed Chalabi from the Pentagon-backed Iraqi National Congress; Iyad Allawi, head of the Iraqi National Accord, an exile organization of Iraqi officials who defected from the regime; and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, a leader of the Iran-based Shiite organization the Supreme Council of the Islamic...
...TIME.com: Barzani has been less enthusiastic than his rival over U.S. plans to topple Saddam...
...Publicly, he's being more cautious, more diplomatic than Talabani, who has pledged wholehearted support. Barzani is playing a more calculating game, because he wants definite assurances from the U.S. that his people will be defended before jumps on the bandwagon. But if there's an invasion, he's definitely willing to cooperate. Also, the two finally seem to be serious about putting aside their differences for the greater interests of Iraqi Kurds. They've traditionally always gone through phases of fighting and then making up. There's a real belief here now that they're serious about working together...