Iraq To Relocate Arabs From Kurdish Area

Gov't Approves Plan To Foster Migration From Kirkuk Despite Criticism From Opposition Party, Turkey

(CBS/AP)  "I have differences with the government on one side and with my parliamentary bloc on another," al-Shebli said, without elaborating.

The Iraqi List is led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite. The group holds 25 seats in the 275-seat parliament.

Ali al-Dabbagh, spokesman for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said al-Shebli quit before he could be fired in a coming government reshuffle. Neither al-Dabbagh nor al-Shebli would say if the minister had resigned over the Kirkuk issue.

In late February Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Iraqi Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi that Baghdad should delay the Kirkuk referendum because the Kirkuk was not secure.

Turkey fears Iraq's Kurds want Kirkuk's oil revenues to fund an eventual bid for independence that could encourage separatist Kurdish guerrillas in Turkey, who have been fighting for autonomy since 1984. That conflict has claimed the lives of 37,000 people.

Al-Shebli said local authorities in Kirkuk, would begin distributing forms soon to Arab families to determine who would participate in the relocation program. He said he could not predict how long the process would take.

Planning Minister Ali Baban said the Cabinet decision in favor of the relocation recommendations was adopted over the opposition of Sunni Arab members of the Shiite-led government, members of the Iraqi List and at least one Cabinet minister loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

"We demanded that the question of Kirkuk be resolved through dialogue between the political blocs and not through the committee," he told the AP earlier this week. "They say the repatriation is voluntary, but we have our doubts."

He said the Sunni opposition was based on the fact that the constitution is under review, with the clause relevant to Kirkuk likely to be debated in that review, and no action should be taken while the issue remains disputed.

The Shiites and Kurds had agreed to consider amendments when the constitution was put to a referendum in 2005 in hopes of winning support from Sunni politicians. The Sunnis now heatedly complain that the constitutional review has never taken place, even though it was to have occurred within four months of being adopted.

"We will continue to oppose the recommendations and try to persuade other parties to see our point of view," Baban said. "We feel that this poses a danger to the unity of Iraq and could have consequences."

Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni lawmaker with the Iraqi List, also denounced the decision, saying it fails to address many key issues, including how to deal with property claims.

"There are more than 13,000 unsolved cases before the commission in charge of this point and it just solved no more than 250 of them," he said of the property claims. "The other thing is the huge demographic change in Kirkuk as more than 650,000 Kurds have been brought in illegally over the past four years. We contest these resolutions and we will raise to the parliament to be discussed."

Tens of thousands of Kurds and non-Arabs fled Kirkuk in the 1980s and 1990s when Saddam's government implemented its "Arabization" policy. Kurds and non-Arabs were replaced with pro-government Arabs from the mainly Shiite impoverished south.

After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, Kirkuk was widely seen as a tinderbox as Kurds and other non-Arabs streamed back with their house, keys in hand, only to find their homes were either sold or given to Arabs.

The returning Kurds became displaced in their own hometown as they found nowhere to live except in parks and abandoned government buildings. At the same time, many Arabs were forced to leave the city, despite Sunni and Shiite Arab leaders pleading with them not to.

Adil Abdul-Hussein Alami, a 62-year-old Shiite who moved to the city 23 years ago in return for $1,000 and a free piece of land, said he would find it hard to leave.

"Kirkuk is an Iraqi city and I'm Iraqi," said the father of nine. "We came here as one family and now we are four. Our blood is mixed with Kurds and Turkmen."

But Ahmed Salih Zowbaa, a 52-year old Shiite father of six who moved to the city from Kufa in 1987, agreed with the government's decision. "We gave our votes to this government and constitution and as long as the government will compensate us, then there is no injustice at all," he said.

[sharncedar]

Bush tried to paint the Kurds like some kind of nice guys, some happy tribe of people "oppressed" by Saddam Hussein. Now they are showing true colors - genocidal maniacs trying to build a "clean" ethnic empire and steal 1/5 of the world's oil reserves, hurray for smart Bush, another great intellectual victory for the C+ student.

[bluestardad]

This is old news!

[kretos-2009]

yeah riot in Iraq made by usa we should thank bush servant of satan

[zootallures2]

Arabs, Kurds...

Ya know, as long as people at the bottom can't get along, the people on the top will take advantage.

Heil the heirarchial dim-wits.

[grazinggoat]

CBS: Iraq To Relocate Arabs From Kurdish Area
Gov't Approves Plan To Foster Migration From Kirkuk Despite Criticism From Opposition Party, Turkey

-Ain't this called Ethnic Cleansing?
Georgie Boy check it out... Georgie. Or is it an order from Jerusalem? And you don't discuss orders coming from Jerusalem... right Georgie?

-Is it the price for establishing a fake relative peace with Palestinians by Israel? Yes GeorgieBoy?

[grazinggoat]

grazinggoat at 01:38 PM,

Funny stuff!!!
Posted by feelfree1

-But arse008 must be so frustrated he can't even push a key, not even one, just one to Copy paste Muslim Nazi Fascist Islamic extremists... He just can't. He becomes crippled on Shabbats by the Power of God.

Thanks God for sucha benediction. God, please make Shabbat everyday for arse008, get us rid of his wealthy and rich speech.

[feelfree1]

crater7,

Re: "The only way this engine will stop, is when it implodes on itself or the American People put a stop to it. A change is necessary and soon."

Agreed.

www.ipetitions.com/petition/OutNow

[feelfree1]

formrusmcsgt,

Re: "Victory", at this stage, means finding someone else to blame for the debacle so as to avoid Bush having the legacy of a complete idiot."

Nice one!

grazinggoat at 01:38 PM,

Funny stuff!!!

[crater7]

WORLDS GREATEST MILITARY BLUNDER CONTINUES; Surge-Purge, Bull Shift. There are not enough troops in the entire military to fix this mess. This president has started the mechanics of an engine that will continue forever. Bush has isolated the United States from the rest of the world. There will be a day when we will need the help of our allies, but they won't be there. The only way this engine will stop, is when it implodes on itself or the American People put a stop to it. A change is necessary and soon.

[formrusmcsgt]

War lovers talk about victory when they can't even define it intelligently.
Posted by Iceman_1960 at 02:01 PM : Mar 31, 2007

"Victory", at this stage, means finding someone else to blame for the debacle so as to avoid Bush having the legacy of a complete idiot.

He tried to bully the Dems into taking some of the heat off of him, historically speaking, by supporting his endeavor so he could say "see? you guys were all for it, too"...

They wouldn't bite and Dubya will fade the heat for his boondoggle all by his lonesome as a result and be viewed by history as an inept, idiot of a president - which is as it should be.

[iceman_1960]

"The attacks raised to at least 517 the number of people killed in the past seven days as suicide bombers and militiamen fought back ferociously despite a U.S.-Iraqi security sweep that is in its seventh week."

I'm still waiting to hear someone define "victory in Iraq" other than to repeat the words of pickup truck bumper stickers or Pie-in-the-Sky flights of rhetoric that would embarrass Pollyanna.

War lovers talk about victory when they can't even define it intelligently.

[formrusmcsgt]

Instead of the "decider", Bush should be known as the "prostituter".

He has prostituted our moral authority in dealing with future illegal invasions.

He has prostituted our relations with our allies by telling the majority of them to all get pumped.

He has prostituted our troops by wasting them in a boondoggle with no chance of success.

He has prostituted our treasury to pay for the boondoggle instead of spending it here for real benefit to us all.

And, on top of all that, he has prostituted our national dignity by turning this country into an agressor nation.

[iceman_1960]

The war in Iraq is being won by China.

That's not a joke.

China actually wants the U.S. to waste enormous amounts of money in Iraq, thus diminishing America as a future economic rival.

This plausible theory has been put forth on the McLaughlin Group and elsewhere.

[formrusmcsgt]

The one predictable thing about all of Bush's plans is that they all end in more blood spilled and money wasted. Bush's Presidency is an absolute failure.
Posted by micma at 01:31 PM : Mar 31, 2007

More than that, it's a disgrace.

[iceman_1960]

"The arse008 is on shabbat today. No rich contribution from him today. Thanks God for this." Posted by grazinggoat

lieberman008 isn't Jewish. He just exploits Israel's security concerns to gain his real objective:

A militarized America perpetually at war.

As long as he isn't asked to (a) fight in war, or (b) pay slightly higher taxes for "frivolous things" like decent VA hospital care for wounded troops.

[krotec54]

It won't matter, oil will stop flowing in the Middle East soon and the Muslims will be happy to be isolated from the rest of the world to kill each other off. Just who will win? Iran or Saudi Arabia?

[iceman_1960]

"President Bush, the American military and U.S. diplomats in Iraq have expressed cautious optimism about the crackdown on violence that began Feb. 14..."

If there's one attribute George W. Bush lacks, it's caution.

His father was ridiculed relentlessly about his "prudence," but it was that virtue that prevented a hasty and reckless drive on Baghdad during the first Gulf War.

Future historians will be giving the elder Bush his due tribute for that restraint. It prevented a bloody quagmire from claiming hundreds of thousands of military and civilian deaths back in 1991.

That was a "Mission Accomplished" worthy of thge name. The first President Bush liberated Kuwait in a war lasting less than a year.

[grazinggoat]

The arse008 is on shabbat today. No rich contribution from him today. Thanks God for this.

[micma-2009]

The one predictable thing about all of Bush's plans is that they all end in more blood spilled and money wasted. Bush's Presidency is an absolute failure.

[bobnjersey]

[President Bush, the American military and U.S. diplomats in Iraq have expressed cautious optimism about the crackdown on violence that began Feb. 14 in Baghdad, Anbar province and regions surrounding the capital, but the ease with which suspected al Qaeda suicide bombers have continued striking Shiite targets has cast a shadow over the effort.]

... suspected al qaeda suicide bombers? who's investigating ... alberto gonzalez?

this is clearly proof that bush was either completely correct about iraq (al qaeda is everywhere) ... or ... they haven't yet been told about those little 'issues' between the shia and the sunni.