Title: The Kurds in Post-Saddam Iraq
Author: Kenneth Katzman
Place of publication:USA
Publisher: Congressional Research Service
Release date:2010
The Kurdish-inhabited region of northern Iraq has been relatively peaceful and prosperous since
the fall of Saddam Hussein. However, the Iraqi Kurds’ political autonomy, and territorial and
economic demands, have caused friction with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and other Arab
leaders of Iraq, and with Christian and other minorities in the north. As the United States
transitions to a support role in Iraq, these tensions are assessed by U.S. commanders as having the
potential to erode the security gains that have taken place in Iraq since 2007. Some U.S. officials
want to establish clear policies and provisions to contain these frictions in advance of the
expected completion of the U.S. military departure from Iraq at the end of 2011. Turkey and Iran
were skeptical about Kurdish autonomy in Iraq but have reconciled themselves to this reality and
have emerged as major investors in the Kurdish region of Iraq.
The major territorial, financial, and political issues between the Kurds and the central government
do not appear close to resolution. Tensions increased after Kurdish representation in two key
mixed provinces was reduced by the January 31, 2009, provincial elections. The disputes nearly
erupted into all-out violence between Kurdish militias and central government forces in mid-
2009, and the Kurds continue not to recognize the authority of the Sunni Arab governor of
Nineveh Province in Kurdish-inhabited areas of the province. The low-level clashes in 2009
caused the U.S. military to propose new U.S. deployments designed to build confidence between
Kurdish and government forces; joint U.S.-Iraqi-Kurdish militia patrols began in January 2010.
The Kurds also perceive that their role as “kingmakers” in Iraq’s central government - their
ability to throw their parliamentary votes toward one side or another – was reduced by the March
7, 2010 elections which saw the seats held by the major Kurdish factions lowered from previous
levels.
The Kurds’ political clout in Baghdad is further reduced by the political ferment in the Kurdish
region itself. The Kurdish region voted for president and for members of the Kurdistan National
Assembly on July 25, 2009. The results, in which an opposition list won almost 25% of the vote,
have threatened the previously iron grip on the politics and economy of the region exercised by
the two main factions—the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. [1]