Word: iraq
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Kurds who had turned their enclave in northern Iraq and parts of Turkey, Iran and Syria into a virtual semiautonomous state, the infighting is tragic. It is almost entirely the product of animosity between two men leading rival parties who are deeply jealous of each other. "This struggle for power is as personal as it can get," says a Pentagon analyst. When the Kurds held an election for an autonomous government to run Kurdistan in 1992, Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party and Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan split the vote, forcing them to accept coalition rule. Last May open...
Barzani has accused Talabani of stealing $14 million from the Kurdish treasury and being a "jash," or donkey, as Kurds label collaborators with Baghdad. Talabani claims Barzani is pocketing cash from customs fees the Kurds levy on the 10,000 bbl. of diesel fuel Iraq secretly ships through Kurd territory to Turkey every...
...Kurdish leaders ought to be joining hands to secure their independence from an increasingly shaky Saddam, who escaped yet another coup attempt earlier this month. Instead Kurds are killing one another, and northern Iraq and beyond are growing dangerously unstable. Meanwhile, neighboring Turkey, at war with rebellious Kurds in its provinces, was in turmoil last week from rioting by extremist Islamic and nationalist groups. "The area is extremely volatile--all of it," says a worried senior Clinton Administration official. Still more tinder piled up last week after Saddam seized two American civilians who seemed to have accidentally wandered across...
...parochial tribal chieftain wary of the West whose political base remains in the countryside. Over the years he has favored negotiation with Baghdad, while the 62-year-old Talabani wants confrontation. Talabani shares the dream of other Kurds of an independent Kurdistan that includes parts of Iraq, Iran and Turkey. When U.S. officials visit Talabani, he regularly serves them turkey for dinner so they will not miss the message that he wants to nibble at his neighbor...
...designated no-fly zone. "We're supposed to be protecting the Kurds, but to do what--have a civil war?" asks a frustrated Pentagon official. Among his Arab neighbors, Saddam is touting the turmoil in the north as an example of what will happen to the rest of Iraq if he is deposed. "It makes him look less odious," says a Middle East expert at the State Department. "He's still evil, but at least he keeps the country together." If the fighting continues, Saddam hopes the side that ends up the loser will rejoin Baghdad...