Kirkuk Is A 'Land Mine' Where All Sides Want U.S. To Stay -- McClatchy NewsKIRKUK, Iraq — If civil war were to resume in Iraq, a dread event that could spell the breakup of the world's next great oil power, Kirkuk is the likely epicenter.
It doesn't take much to set ethnic tensions to boil in this oil-rich province of 850,000, also named Kirkuk, which Kurds consider their Jerusalem but which Arabs and Turkomen also claim. An altercation on a street in the city of Kirkuk, a riot in a nearby Arab town and a car bombing shook the peace in the first half of this year, pitting Kurds against Arabs in a manner that Sunni Arab extremists are only too eager to exploit.
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My Comment: The U.S. military is the only neutral organization that is independent from Iraq's ethnic/religious/sectarian battles. Unfortunately .... while it may make sense to have some U.S. soldiers based in places like Kirkuk .... the sentiment in Baghdad is different, and they want these troops out.
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