Epstein Secrets

turmoil has wracked much of the rest of the country. Yet for many Kurds, the Iraqi region of Kurdistan could never be complete without Kirkuk. Under Saddam Hussein's brutal Arabization campaigns, many Kurds were forced to leave. The ethnically mixed area has been the flash point of a bitter territorial dispute.

tan could never be complete without Kirkuk. Under Saddam Hussein's brutal Arabization campaigns, many Kur

ld never be complete without Kirkuk. Under Saddam Hussein's brutal Arabization campaigns, many Kurds were

r toward a breakup, one group is maneuvering the crisis with far more leverage than the others: Iraqi Kurds. And in the contested oil-rich region of Kirkuk, Iraq's Kurdish minority has been steadily consolidating control for weeks. On the southern edge of the province, in an area once secured by centra

terrorism. In response, the U.S.-sometimes successfully, sometimes not so much-has gone to war or at least gone after the likes of Moammar Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, Slobodan Milosevic, Ho Chi Minh, Manuel Noriega, Kim II- sung, and the Taliban. Like it or not, only the United States can preven

t least gone after the likes of Moammar Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, Slobodan Milosevic, Ho

rticic 4. Al-Ahram Weekly A strategic stopover Hussein Handy Au',it: 5. The Hoover Institution Obama'

northern Iraq, though the Kurdish peshmerga are professional fighters who ISIS would be wary of challenging now. But as the years go on, the oil in Kirkuk would be a tempting ISIS target. One question is whether ISIS has learned from its failed reign of terror in Anbar province in 2005 and 2006, when

an has often been singled out as the main beneficiary of the US-led invasion of Iraq, as well as the biggest threat to Iraq's stability in the post- Saddam era. Iran's uninterrupted support for Shia militia groups in southern Iraq, particularly the Mandi army, is seen as one indication of its involveme

EU imposed tougher sanctions on Iran's gasoline imports, hundreds of millions of dollars in crude oil and refined products from the Kurdish region, Kirkuk, and Baiji have been smuggled to Iran on a daily basis. As direct smuggling from Oman and the UAE becomes more and more difficult and sanctions bec

candidate focusing on Iranian policy toward post-Saddam Iraq at the University of London's School of Orie

rs that using the current turmoil to gain concessions from Baghdad on issues such as independent oil exports and the future of the disputed city of Kirkuk will backfire. Washington is loath EFTA00669742 to take sides between Erbil and Baghdad. And if it does, it is unlikely to act to antagonize Mr.