As violence grows, oil-rich Kirkuk could hold key to Iraq's future

[cal04]

Tribal chiefs call for return of Saddam while Kurds eye a new federal state

The tribal chiefs, in traditional robes and chequered headdresses, emerged from the dust stirred up by their convoy of pick-up trucks and walked towards the big white tent, gesturing welcomes to each other as they sat.

Accompanied by about 500 clansmen and a gaggle of local journalists, the 35 Sunni sheikhs - from Mosul, Tikrit, Samarra and Hawija - converged last week on Hindiya, on the scrappy western edges of Kirkuk, to swear their undying opposition to "conspiracies" to partition Iraq and to pledge allegiance to their president, Saddam Hussein.

Under banners exalting the man now standing trial in Baghdad for war crimes and genocide, the gathering heard speeches from prominent northern Iraqi sheikhs, Sunni Arab politicians and self-declared leaders of the Ba'ath party calling for the former dictator's release.

"If the Iraqi government wants national reconciliation to succeed and for the violence to end, they have to quickly release the president and end the occupation," said Sheikh Abdul Rahman Munshid, of the Obeidi tribe. "But most important of all," he added, "Kirkuk must never become part of Kurdistan. It is an Iraqi city, and we will take all routes to prevent the divisions of Iraq."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1932789,00.html

[Demeter]

1. Oooh kayyy

Looks like some people aren't following the BushCo/PNAC script here.

Could it be because they are still reality=based? Or just because it's their country and their oil and their lives?

You have to wonder what the GOP is gonna use for brains, now that they are running out of shit.