Word: northerners
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...midweek, U.S. planners appeared to be moving to expand their range of tactical options. Paratroopers took control of an airfield in Kurdish-held territory north of Baghdad to begin establishing the northern front delayed by Turkey's rebuff of plans for the 4th Infantry Division to march on Baghdad from Turkish soil. The 4th's troops and equipment are currently en route by sea to Kuwait, but their deployment in Iraq - possibly via airfields captured last week in western Iraq - may take another two weeks or more. And the U.S. announced Thursday that a further 100,000 troops would...
Since the cold war's end, reserve forces have been called up for duty in the Gulf War, the southern and northern no-fly zones over Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and now, again, Iraq. "We can't have a situation where we call you, as a Guardsman or reservist, every year for three or four years," says Thomas Hall, the Pentagon's top reserve official. "You won't want to stay in the Guard and reserve, and employers might worry about employing...
...today." After Saddam mentioned the Umm Qasr battle, he proceeded to cite by name numerous Iraqi soldiers who proved their heroism in the defense of the city. He also saluted the residents of Basra, the largest city in southern Iraq, as well as Iraqis living in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul. "O heroic mujahedeen, hit your enemy hard!" Saddam said. "O noble Iraqis, with your strength and spirit of jihad, hit him so that he cannot commit more crimes against you, your nation and humanity. Then you will have victory, our martyrs will have the pride of paradise...
...Turkish government says they're not here. The Turkish military says they are, and the authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan say they aren't and never will be. It's still unclear whether any Turkish troops have entered northern Iraq, in open defiance of the United States and Europe, and if so where they are. So I spent a couple of days this weekend driving around the mountains of far northern Iraq looking for myself...
...Even after Turkey's parliament agreed to allow the U.S. the right to use Turkish airspace, negotiations at the executive level broke down over disagreements between Washington and Ankara over Turkey's role in northern Iraq, suggesting that the potential for violent clashes between Turkish and Kurdish forces remains high. And that creates an incentive for the U.S. to take control of the most prized piece of real estate in that conflict. That would have been a lot easier, of course, if Turkey had allowed the U.S. to launch a ground invasion from its territory...