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06 February 2007
Head 'Em Up, Move 'Em Out
In a move that's sure to open up a whole can of worms in Kurdistan, the Iraqi government has made a decision to do a little ethnic cleansing in Kirkuk. Non-Kurds who moved to Kirkuk after 1957 and their descendants are supposed to hit the road and not come back no more, no more, no more. Each family so moved gets $25,000 in US dollars as compensation.
Oh goody. Kick me out of my house and send me down south with $25 grand. Should I pre-arrange for a kidnapper to avoid the rush? Those thoughts have to be going through the potentially displaced people. Those, or something more like, "Over my cold dead body." Either way, I don't see good things coming from this.
Kirkuk sits on 2% of the world's oil reserves, which adds to the tension of a land dispute. This is Iraq, as well, where violence seems to be the order of the day, not law and order. This is where Iraq can really plunge into hell. It's the Titanic right now. If Kirkuk flares into violence, Iraq will become the Lusitania.