Word: talabani
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...side are the followers of Massoud Barzani in the K.D.P., strong in tribal tradition, who control the lucrative smuggling routes into Turkey. On the other are many urban intellectuals who follow Jalal Talabani and his P.U.K. The two men despise each other and disagree fundamentally on how to achieve self-rule: Barzani would accept autonomy within Iraq, while Talabani would settle only for full independence. Perhaps worse, Talabani, whose territory is squeezed between Iraq and Iran, is jealous of the rich "customs tax" Barzani collects from the truckers surreptitiously ferrying oil and goods between Turkey and Iraq in violation...
Though Saddam has lately faced takeover attempts almost every three months, his personal security force has had little trouble foiling each one. Talabani and the Iraqi National Congress, the umbrella for all Iraqi dissident groups, had long hoped that a combined assault by Kurds in the north, Shi'ites in the south and mutinous troops in Baghdad could succeed. Last November, the head of Iraqi military intelligence during the Gulf War, Major General Wafiq Samaraii, defected to Kurdistan with a promise that he could deliver an Iraqi division willing to attack Saddam. A brigade would capture the Iraqi leader...
...which has provided limited financial backing to Iraqi dissidents, was alerted by the Iraqi National Congress in February that the coup would soon take place. But the agency was skeptical. Talabani and the other plotters could not keep their mouths shut about the planning. The week before the coup, even reporters were picking up rumors that it was imminent. "If the press knew about the coup, you could be sure Saddam knew," said a U.S. intelligence analyst. He did. The week before the coup attempt, Saddam put his entire military on full alert. He never set foot in Tikrit. Samaraii...
Last month the State Department dispatched an emissary to urge Talabani and Barzani to make peace. Turkey opposes an independent Kurdistan, but it has nevertheless warned both sides to stop the fighting, fearing a flood of refugees if civil war continues or Iraqi troops move in. Saddam has bolstered his forces in the north but has held off any major attacks, hoping to charm the U.N. into lifting sanctions...
...place for the time being, hard-liners in Saddam's inner circle are urging him to strike against the weakened Kurds. Even the Kurdish people are becoming frustrated with their leaders. "This is the worst time in our history, because it is Kurd killing Kurd," says Shazad Saib, a Talabani representative in Ankara. "We are destroying our newly found homeland." A Kurdish poem laments: "Red roses are the blood of brother slain by brother. When will the mountain rose no longer smell of my brother's blood?" Perhaps never...