Those were the days when the USA first invaded Iraq.
Dust and fires. The red dots are fires.
But, there was that other war that came first.
Kuwait Invasion
August 2, 1990
...Saddam Hussein claimed the Iraqi invasion was in support of a planned uprising against the Emir, but murders and abuses of Kuwaitis who resisted the occupation were common.
Several hundred foreign nationals were held as human shields at Iraqi and Kuwaiti factories and military bases, but were released before the allied campaign against Iraq....
Gulf War I was to stop Saddam in Kuwait and it did. But, I find it very strange that all of a sudden the Prime Minister of Iraq sees Iraq in many different regions.
- AAP
- January 28, 2013
IRAQI energy officials have signed an oil exploration agreement with a Kuwait-led group, finalising a deal that was altered to expel a Turkish firm amid worsening ties with Ankara.
A contract was inked with Kuwait Energy and Dragon Oil of the United Arab Emirates to explore a 900-square-kilometre block thought to contain oil in south Iraq, near the country's border with Iran.
The contract was signed by Abdul Mehdi al-Amidi, the Iraqi oil ministry's head of contracts and licensing, a representative of the state-owned South Oil Company, Hussein al-Mosawy of Kuwait Energy and Mark Sawyer of Dragon Oil, according to an AFP journalist present.
Kuwait Energy has a 70 per cent stake in the project, with Dragon Oil holding the remainder. The companies have agreed to be paid a service fee of $US6.24 per barrel of oil equivalent eventually extracted....
Now, let me get this straight. Turkey originally had the oil exploration agreement of southern Iraq. But, their agreement was negated to provide a favor to a Kuwaiti oil group. Then Maliki tells Exxon-Mobil to choose either the north or south to explore for oil, but, not both.
Hm.
Regardless of the Iraq constitution, it sure looks like there is a division of power in Iraq that is sustainable and expected. One or other, but, not both and Turkey needs to take a hike because they are closer to the Kurdish oil fields.
See, if I were Maliki and wanted to avoid a war with the Kurds while being limited to two terms in office, I would want to live in southern Iraq without Turkey having an interest in the country's borders.
It could be that Maliki also sees Turkey going to war with Kurdistan and he simply does not want any part of it.
But, at this point, Iraq is finding it necessary to be three autonomous regions in order to stop ethnic oppression and/or war. When the Prime Minister can't go into a Sunni province without killing demonstrators, there is something really wrong. I don't believe there is much hope that country will remain as one sovereign nation. Just as well.
