The Kurds are mostly a part of the political boundaries of Iraq. However, they do not look like the other Iraqis, they speak a different language and have a different version of their religion. And they don't like the remainder of the Iraqis. At all. Bush counted them as Iraqi troops when using them against Sunni's and Shiites and technically he was correct, more correct than most of his statements. However, it's a bit like Puerto Ricans and North Dakotans, or Alaskans, though there is not the rancor in the latter. As much in common, though. The Russians did the same thing, using Asians to invade Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Different cultures, different peoples, all Russian.

In order to get even the help Turkey granted the US in this war, Bush promised one of the outcomes would not be a Kurdish state, much of which would come out of Turkey. And now Turkey has invaded Kurdish Iraq, too, as could Iran. One of the outcomes predicted was war throughout the area.

The US planning for this was minimal. The commanders in the field were told that troop levels would be down to 30,000 by September, 2003. That's how much planning was done.

We haven't seen the end of the unintended, though certainly not unforeseen consequences. Fortunately, and unfortunately, we're going to have to wait until a rational administration gets in before those chickens come home to roost, with the inevitable Conservative chickenhawk dance to follow.

Arf