As you point out, IRGC presence in the Kurdish north is not 'news'. But Iran's relationship with Iraqi Kurds has not always been positive. Iranian support for the terrorist group Ansar al-Islam, which has attacked the PUK and KDP (Kurdish political parties), is one example. Iran also continues to oppose greater autonomy for its own ethnic Kurds, and has killed thousands of them since the early 1990's. If Iran wants Kurdish acquiescence now, it will have to offer more than threats and good memories of the past. I fully support the capture/elimination of IRGC members that threaten U.S. and Iraqi forces. But what will the U.S. do if the Iraqi government allows Iran to officially open a consulate in Irbil? I believe you make the case for quick action before this occurs.

Maybe if the Americans had not abandoned the Kurds after the 1st Gulf War in Kuwait, but instead had supplied and assisted them in their fight against Saddam Hussein, we wouldn't be asking these questions today. What goes around, comes around........

All of this warmongering and hostile rhetoric is propaganda by the simple minded, for the simple minded. It's a cop-out. There are many EU countries, including Germany, presently doing business with Iran. Why aren't we there making money too?....Like all of our friends. Only the neocons in our country, and the Israelis refuse to talk to, and normalize relations with Iran. Our government should do what is in our (America's)interest. Friends help you improve your lot. They don't get you killed!

Darrel hit the nail on the head. Failing to support the Kurds post Gulf I is probably only topped as a political/foreign policy blunder by failing to support the Hungarians in 1957. My guess is that Kurdistan flags are being sewn in every hut in the mountainous regions of Iran, Iraq and Turkey.

To Darrel In Pa you need to get your facts straight my friend as America did go to the Kurds aid. there was a no-fly zone that we enforced for quite a few years and it enabled the kudish region to become quite sucessful and democratic in their governing that region. Why do you think that Sadam wanted so much to get rid of them??

Why not recuit an all US moslem brigade to train as marines. They could have their own food, own customs etc but go thru Marine Training. After 6 months deploy to Bagdad, with web cams and computers and move in with natives after that sectdor is cleared. With so many informants living in close contact they could see and hear everything. Arlin

No matter what the iranians have done in the past doesnt come close to what the U.S. has done for them. Taking out Saddam was the biggest gift to their existence in northern Iraq.

Everyone remembers how we told the Iraqis that we wouldn't suppress the uprisings that we told the Iraqi people to do. The Shia and the Kurds paid for it together, and only after the bodies piled up did we put together a no fly zone. Emphasis on "only after the bodies piled up".

Rick thinks we can just drop the religious madness infesting the Planet and talk to Iran like they are good old friends. You can just see Bush and Ahmejinedad shaking hands over a good old German style money making contract. To think that someone can be that naiive is beyond belief. Iran wants, believes in world domination with one religion. Maybe some of you don't believe that, maybe you think Iran is a benevolent, benign society, the envy of the entire civilised world. They are a pathetic backward country sitting on a pool of oil. Money talks, BS walks, and Iran has ONE voice. Their shortcomings will become apparent when the Natanz facilty ecomes radioactive rubble sometime late March. American military power WILL PREVAIL.

If anyone in this administration had had a scintilla of knowledge about history, he would have known the end of the Baathist dictatorship meant an inevitable tripartite division of the artificial construct called Iraq into Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish states with regional chaos subsequently involving Saudi Arabia, Iran, and yes, Turkey which will never permit an independent Kurdistan to inflame the irrendentist sentiments of the Kurds in Turkey. What is truly frightening is that the whole mess the Bush-Cheney people have caused brings us one step closer to the destruction of the dollar as a reserve currency and the exhaustion of our military power. In short, in 1945 we assumed what once had been the policy of the British Empire and a scant half century later we are in the same position the British were when they had exhausted themselves with Imperial overreach. As Santayana so correctly noted, those who refuse to learn from history are forced to repeat it.

Why should we believe that the USA has found this evidence ? Didn't the USA give false information about Iraq having "Weapons of mass destruction" Doesn't it seem rather hypocritical that the USA is the only country which is allowed to have weapons of mass destruction ?

If we have to police the world, we should get our oil and military cost paid for by those countries who have all the oil or else just take it as a fee for all our country will loose in that extended war. just look at all the drugs we get from our friends over there they won't even let us kill the poppies over there, I GUESS IT MUST BE AGAINST THERE CONSTITUTION OR the drug lords in Washington

The iranian influence in iraqi Kurdistan is a question of money, nothing else. And money is something Iranians had learned to use to buy political sympathy. You can take the example of some extreme rightwing parties here in Europe, who’s leaders visit Iran and propagate anti-american and anti-jewish and pro-iranian ideas. There is a Portuguese saying that goes “tell me who you go with, I’ll tell you who you are”. But the Kurdish problem goes way behind, the moment Britain and France designed the borders of the region in the aftermath of WWI, “inventing” Syria, and Jordania, and Iraq, and forgetting the Kurd nation. It was something like a building problem, reparations is really expensive, and that’s why so many people prefer to live (badly) with them. Probably it wont be solved in our lifetime.

I don't understand why the Kurds think they are special. They have never been a seperate state from Iraq. They are Iraqis and need to stop causing chaos in trying to create their own state. Unlike the Palestinians who are under illegal occupation and have the right to resist the Israeli government, the Kurds have NEVER been seperate.

I have family that is part of the intelligence community so what I am about to write needs to be precluded with some explanation of that world. As in politics the intel world is divided into two groups. In politics/military that division is between "hawks" and "doves." Obviously I do not need to explain that symbolism and their differences. In the intelligence communities there is a somewhat different split. There are no "doves', but there are "owls." Those who believe there are wiser ways to protect our country, uphold the Constitution, and spread democracy and freedom. The owls believe in God and country and the founding principals that established it. They will "hunt" as necessary to survive and they will protect their nest. The other group, while definitively "hawkish", are the "sharks." They are killing machines. Overwhelming force, regardless of the moral or political implications, is their modus operandi. Ultimately the ends justify the means to them. Even among those two distinct fundamental separations there are political and spiritual divisions. The outing of deep cover CIA operative, Valarie Plame Wilson, has caused great strife between the two competing philosophies and partisan divides are beginning to evaporate. I am pasting something I have written below that also appeared in OpEd News in a shorter version. I have several articles on that site, but this one in particular is important right now. The mainstream media will not publish my article, (as though I should be surprised by that LOL). The story has been vetted/fact checked by numerous individuals and it all checked out. The conclusions expressed from those facts seem to make some uncomfortable, but nobody has any better explanations. Millions are DEMANDING impeachment! Cheney and Rove are going to be handed to Congress on a silver platter by the time the Libby trial is over. The list of Crimes that Bush himself has committed keeps growing. Without Rove the right wing political propaganda attack against impeachment will not exist like it has in the past. There are no excuses unless the Democrats and even some Republicans really are truly afraid for their lives and the lives of their families. The intel community call the kind of clandestine operations that I, and others in the "know", believe are taking place - black ops. When assassination is the mission objective it is known as wet work. So I ask... Are Democrats afraid of right wing black ops doing wet work on them? Forget the "conspiracy theory" psyops framing. The facts contained below are public knowledge. Like Osama Bin Laden, the Anthrax killer remains at large. WE need to tell our Congress people that we have got their backs. This criminal enterprise must be stopped! Impeachment is Off the Table? To say "impeachment is off the table" is the equivalent of saying the Constitution, the rule of law, and democracy are no longer relevant. Maybe the Democrats are actually fearful of doing anything with good reason. The anthrax attacks were directed at ONLY the Democrats and certain segments of the Media. Fox news didn't receive any. And, oddly enough, although nobody considers the National Inquirer to be part of the media, or a threat to anyone except slandered celebrities, their corporate headquarters were targeted first. Why is that odd? They were running stories on the drunken Bush twins prior to 9/11 and about George's cocaine habit before the 2000 election. There is also the strange admission that top Republicans were taking prophylactic doses of Cipro prior to those attacks. It is also very "odd" that only prominent Democrats who are critical of this administration seem to die in tragic airplane crashes. Needless to say maybe the Dems know the Bush crime family is vengeful and capable of pure evil. That should not be an excuse for postponing impeachment, but instead should be the very reason they get started immediately with impeachment hearings and eventually lead to criminal prosecutions. I guess they are waiting for either WWIII, (that starts with Iran and Syria, then China, etc); or for those detention camps of Ollie North's to start filling up with millions of Americans who protest in demand of impeachment. It is already almost too late. If either of the above mentioned atrocities take place it [impeachment] will be virtually impossible. And God forbid they engineer or allow another catastrophic terrorist attack on American soil. At that point martial law will be instituted and George W. Bush will have the dictatorship he always wanted. In the meantime how many more soldiers and innocent Iraqis must die? How many more of our civil liberties and rights will vanish in the name of national security? How many more high crimes will be committed by this imperial president? The truly patriotic of America are demanding answers and justice right now.

Why did Saddam kill Kurds?

Given the ill-conceive, strategically mistaken and poorly planned and executed invasion of Iraq, expansion of the Iraninan govenrment's operation should not come as a surprise. Openning two fronts on either side of Iran has provided Iran with the long awaiting opportunity to extend its reactionary policies east and west. All they were looking for was some degree of foreing policy incompetence and few draconian military tacticians, which they found in the current administration. For the sake of American and Iraqi lives, lets hope for a new trend of foreign policy based on common sense and inclusion of ideas and experties.

Like in most conflicts, there are a series of turns and tipping points. This one, the identification and confrontation with Iranian agents marks a new front with an interesting and hitherto "new" enemy identifiable by its Tehran sponsorship. I have always said from the beginning Iran (and Syria) has no interest in a strong and stable neighbor in Iraq. Tehran will probably just seek to quietly pursue its regional interests and at the right moment publicly, vociferously, and sustainably blame the US for its "evil lies" about Iran's involvement. This would give diplomatic cover to its nominal supporters (viz Russia and China), stir up the rhetorical pot, while raising the stakes against the US with a 3-pronged game of nukes, insurgents, & public relations. And with all that oil money to pour on Shia-aligned interests, Iran gets to be a big benefactor to whoever will take their money and terrorist technical assistance. And aside from dumping all their fanatics into Iraq, they also get to learn the political conditions, create new militant groups, and train others on terrorist methods. For their part, the Kurds get to play off (either by design or necessity) various potential suitors to keep Turkey (or whoever) at bay. They have incentive now to see what Iran offers; the coalition may not be around in the long run and who knows what will happen then? Between Kurds, Sunnis, and Shias why wouldn't Tehran mess with them all? I say 'yes' to the covert ops which need to be frequent and reported more often to keep the pressure on. Plus new types of military tactics (ambushes, ruses, tricks and traps; how about decoy trucks??). The Iranians will have a very long-term stake in this game, and everybody better see what they are doing there now before some future US drawdown.

"Only the neocons in our country, and the Israelis refuse to talk to, and normalize relations with Iran." It is kind of hard to try and normalize relations with a nation whose president does not acknowledge the existance of the holocaust, has openly declared that he wants to eradicate Israel, and has also funded countless terrorist groups across the mideast. Besides we are not the only nation that has bad feelings towards Iran. At this moment Saudi Arabia has ramped up production to decrease the price of oil, their country is much more able to handle a price decrease, than Iran. In fact I think this very news site wrote an article about it.

it's to late to make much of an impact in Arabic Iraq (not a real nation state) but the U.S. should support the creation of a "Greater Kurdistan" (a real nation) which would include Far Eastern Turkey & Northwestern Iran..this could be done thru U.N. supervised plebiscites...let's not come away from this war with nothing to show for the sacrifices our troops have made..Kurdistan would be the most reliable ally we could hope for in that region (including Israel)

Turkey has warned the USA that it is tired of the kurds attacking them.Turkey said they will go into northen IRAQ and destroy the Kurds. The USA says PLEASE DON'T they are our ONLY friends in IRAQ.The Kurds want their own country AKA ISRAEL.This will never happen ask the Turkish govt.

Bravo Peter from Phoenix!!! but with the Soviet Union gone we no longer have to cater to Turkey....turks out of Cyprus!!! and Ionia too!!!...and Turkey in the E.U.!!! it's not called the European Community for nothing...wake up Euros

Arlin asks why not recruit an all moslem brigade and give them marine training? Great idea except for one small fact....there arent enough muslims willing to fill a platoon yet alone a brigade.Why is it that we have so few arabic alnguage translators who are desperately needed in the war against terror?If you cant get translators who for the most part work in peaceful conditions,do you really believe that you will get muslims to form a military brigade? Heck you cannot find a single Muslim to issue a fatwa that it is the duty of Muslims to kill Bin Lladen who has supposedly hijacked their peaceful religion.Dont poke fun at them with a cartoon though,it could be very dangerous.

Wow!Wow! and Wow!! All these americans voicing opinions. It's great but we have the civilization and democracy that allows us to voice those views. These people neither have our values, or our democratic views. What baffles me is that we are trying to set up democracies in these places and we're not even sure the majority of these people want it. These wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are unlike any wars we've been involved in before. Including Vietnam! Or should I call them conflicts? These are vastly different people than we are. There conlicts are primarily ethnic, tribal, and religious. This is a no win situation. Iran just adds to the mix. If we were going to attack any country. Why Iraq? We've had historical problems with Iran and North Korea going back at leats two decades. The Kurds! They could care less about the Iranians, the Americans, and for that matter the rest of Iraq. They just want to be left alone. We don't get it. We think we can just go into any country, depose their leadership, and they'll flee to the prospect of democracy. They've lived their way of life for centuries. They're not going to change just because the great USA said it's a good idea. I was telling my grandson the other day, it's kind of like the neighborhood bully coming onto your driveway and saying you can't do this or that. You'll say OK because he's bigger and stronger. As soon as he walks away you say to your friends, he's not going to tell me what to do. You'll do what you want, after all it's your house. What you do is get a dozen friends and confront the bully. He may attack one but he won't attack a dozen. The fault here is with America. We still haven't gotten it.

What if the Iranians were being honest about their people being diplomats and what we read in the news is black propaganda? It seems like the Iranians employ White Propaganda in that they attempt to acknowledge their own propaganda as propaganda. I took a class at a community college and learned how some of this works. Admittedly though, I was drunk during most of it. I think Ahamadeenajad looks like Ringo star which, unfortunately, is my least favorite beetle. Therefore, I have no problem with opening another front in Iran. GO USA!

Have we forgotten what happened Sept 11, 2001. Terrorists came into this Country and killed innocent people. Now we are taking the fight to the terrorist groups. Better to fight them there then on our own soil. Is it going to take another attack on our soil to make Americans remember what terrorists are all about. We are doing what needs to be done. We can not just leave Iraq now. We are committed and we need to stay the course otherwise the terrorists win. Then they will come and the war will be here. I dont know about you but I would much rather have it there than here.

This article began very well but at the end there was one thing missing. We know that Iranian opened their borders when the Kurds were subject to genocide and had no friends (and betrayed). It is a question of survival, of course Kurds would choose the American over the Iranians if they were sure that US will not betray them again. We see no sign that we are important to them and that they will help us in bad and good times. Your Administrations come and go, faces change and at the end it is our people who have to face the hostility and genocide not yours, You put us in a position to answer the question with us or against us, we are simple none them, until we know how trustworthy you are. I am not arrogant, this is simple truth.

The Kurds have been doing a high-wire balancing act for more than a thousand years. They are caught between three power centers in the Middle East: the Turks, the Iranians and the Sunnie Arabs. They appreciate current U.S. assistance, and see a medium-term advantage in supporting most U. S. objectives in Iraq. But they remember that we threw the Iraqi Shiites overboard in 1991, and they know American policies in the area blow like straw in the wind. The U. S. could throw them overboard tomorrow in some new policy shift. The Kurds have a remarkable sense of self-preservation, and they know they need more than one ally in this struggle. This administration, and truthfully, most previous administrations, have been so ignorant about the realities of the Middle East, that we deserve the whipping we're getting.

First of all,no one would know what happend in history among the people of that part of the world as much as people who lives there. 1-shia,sunni and %99 of kurd are muslem.So why would they kill each other? 2-Most kurds are very nice people but they have armed groups who beleives in marxist and leninist ideas.How well this will work with Americas opposition for cominisim? 3-there are over 10 million kurds lives in Turkey.They have every civil rights as much as any turkish citizen if history serves me right in 1990's one turkish president was a kurd(his name was turgut ozal.)where in the world an ethnic group who is so suppresed had or has some one as a president of a country? 4-Kurds are been used in irak as a buffer zone,soon as dust setteles they will be pushed around again. What ever happening today is not religion issue,is not ethnic issue.IT IS A POWER ISSUE.WHO CONTROLS WHAT.before form an opinion people has to ask themself who benefits from all this.

Iranians are following their own agenda, and furthering their own interests as much as anyone else. They are taking advantage of cultural, liguistic, and ethnic links that go back thousands of years, as well as the vacuum created by the fall of Saddam, and a halt in his genocidal machinery in Northern Iraq. Having said that, one should not forget Iran's miserable treatment of its own restive Kurdish minority, a watchful Turkey dealing with its own Kurdish minority's aspirations for more freedom, and of course Syria sitting next door. Kurds are truly in a bad neighborhood. Hopefully, being America's cloeset allies for the time being in Iraq won't cost them in the future, as it has in so many instances in the past. Their own saying that their own true frineds and allies are the mountains surounding them will sound all the more true.

I find it funny that our gov't protests Iranian govt's apparent supplying of weapons to our enemies in Iraq that are killing our troops and innocent civilians. When the US supplied the weapons that Israel used to level Beruit last summer while the Bush administration stood by and watched, it set in motion yet ANOTHER FAILED policy. While the administration watched, they paved the way for what is happening over there now in Beruit. A stronger Hezbollah , and a democratic govt on the brink of collapse and another country whose citizens were bombed with our weapons while we sat back and did nothing to stop it thereby creating another country that hates us.

We really need to stop poking fun at Islam. It is a peace loving religion that preaches tolerance and understanding. That and if we mock Mohammed they will kill us.

Please, "we deserve the whipping we're getting". This is the most pathetic thing that I have read thus far on this issue. Statements like this sicken me and probably most others, is this the feeling or position anyone would take if they were there, how about a son or a daughter on the front line? I don't think so. Would you feel this way if we were suffering daily terror attacks in your home town? After 9/11 most folks were screaming for vengence. Vengence has a price. Problem is most americans pay for vengence on credit, when the bill comes due the suffer from amnesia and back pedal. Like it or not we are there. Mistakes have been made there no doubt but I don't think the situation is lost, we just need to look at different options packing up and leaving would create even more problems than it would cure.

One way to see this is: Kurds you are either with us or with out us. Durring the time of the gulf war we could do little we had to live up to what we sign for in order to live up to the cease fire agreement. We are allies with Turkey and they hate kurds and to keep the relationship with the Turks was an stratigic decision in order to attack Iraq from the north and provide coverage for the kurds in the North that was about as far as what we could do. Iran in the other hand fights dirty they are opportunist they can care less if they can live up to their word so if there is nothing in it for them they are not going to help anyone period. All we can do now is realize that the kurds are clearly not in our side, they protested the raid on Iranian offices and they knew about what we were going to find there. The Kurds can care less about us Americans being blown to pieces and do and will assist the Iranians and in addition provide a haven for our worst enemy. Bush is helping Iran become a Supper Power and he doesn't even know it just like every other American I know.

If it truly is as the insider said and it's all about the sharks and the owls and considering that we have a bullheaded shark runnning the show, then GOD help us ALL. The fuse has been lit and there is no blowing this one out. It looks like the war machine may be running for a good long time... Guess we should've innovated and created a fuel source that's not under the land of our enemies. All I can say is prepare for the day when we must stand for what we believe in... May you stand for the truth...

In the midst of all these politics, clash of values and cultures it is easy to forget that many young people in uniforms are losing their lives, which amounts to a mind boggling tragedy. Somebody ought to ask them what are the best strategies for ending the conflicts in the middle east.

war's of faith have always been and will not end tomorrow. The old testement against the old testement, The new testament against the new testament, the Quran against the Quaran. Brother killing brother. The Kurdistan's have their right to the same fate. Let no man take away what God or Allah has given to another man, So let it be.

When Bush disposes Saddam, that was what Iran was looking for. American do not know in fact most of the world do not know that the Shite's primary goal in life is to rid of Sunni's. Read your history... Bush. Like it of not but the troops have to stay in Iraq indefinitely or the minute the troops leave, Iraq will join the Iran co Bush had coalition. Bush had opened a very bad can of worms and the american people has to eat and swallow it. Many countries tried to advice Bush but the American people encouraged him in the beginning. Now WE have to deal with it.

How many remember from history that there was once upon a time an independent Kurdistan that was broken up into what is now modern Iraq as well as parts of Iran and Turkey (the parts they are fighting over).This is what Turkey is afraid of, a reunifiaction supported by Iran into a new power in the neighborhood with strong ties to Iran. PS The Kurds were such good fighters, the British Empire was forced to break up the country to subdue them. These people are right now our friends and allies in the region, maybe the only REAL ones. (see any similarites with Israel?)

Lots of smart comments here ! How did we as a people allow ourselves into this mess ? Did we not know any better? Over $500 Bil in direct cost and counting / over a couple Trillion in indirect cost and counting - both Osama and Saddam will go down in history as the most expensive beings in the world? I am sure we could have paid a Russian to poison Saddam with some radioactive poison for a LOT less? If that is what our objective really was? Meanwhile all we have done is create more radicals who will continue to torment us for a long time to come. The Middle East is a total mess now. Bush can now safely state he is a decider and divider. Until we impeach Bush, set Israel straight and not be its proxy (tail wagging the dog) and the islamic world stands up and controls their radicals via Fatwas or beheadings, I am afraid we are in this downward spiral for quite some time to come. So all of you smart people - start doing something - words need to be translated into action.

Kurds living in Turkey have all the rights as any other Turkish citizens. They can choose and can be chosen as a politician. Than can own a tv station. they can become a singer or an actor/actress. They can do commerce in any field. They can practice their religion. Turkey opened its border in Gulf War I and accepted them as refugee. They were fed and sheltered. Do you know How they paid back?.. by killing Turkish soldiers and local villagers. They kept trying to take a piece from the Turkish main land to create a Kurdish State. Due to terrorist group called PKK's seperatist activities, Turkish state lost almost 40,000 lives icluding soldiers, mostly children, women and men. PKK killed villagers and their families to gain logistics support from them. When they refused to cooperate, the PKK terrorist group killed them to show others what would have happenned in case they don't give them what the PKK wanted. The PKK distrupted education by bombing schools and killing school teachers so that no children could get education. They burt the goverment heavy machines which were there to give service to the people of that area. There are so many things to say about what the PKK did to distrup the life in eastearn Turkey but I will cut it short. Now I am asking anybody out there considering the PKK-a terrorist organization-operating in Northern Iraq and getting help from kurdish leaders in Northern Iraq with a purpose of dividing the Turkish State to create a kurdish State, Would Turkish State allow the creation of a kurdish state in Northern Iraq ???

once we run out on them, (and we will, in the near future) where will the kurds turn to for help? if they turn against the iranians, they will receive payback when we leave.

"U.S. should support the creation of a "Greater Kurdistan" (a real nation) which would include Far Eastern Turkey & Northwestern Iran...Kurdistan would be the most reliable ally we could hope for in that region" well said ric stoliker. and we should include some of the oil regions of iran if possible.

well, it is very interesting! most of you are very well informed but Nobody mentioned ISRAEL so far! So what do you think israel has to do with our war in Iraq??? if you dont see the connection... think again. Israel IS the MAIN reason for the war in Iraq! If you dont think so, just see how much the israeli lobby influences our foreign policy for the middle east. not to sound as antisimitic but those people are EVERYWHERE! pentagon, white house, state department you name it! do you really think an american jew puts america before israel if he had to choose between these two?? How many of you knew that the fake report about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was created by Mossad?? wasnt this the initial reason we invade iraq? It is so simple, So far israel had to defend itself against so many countries in the region, well the jews were always smart people, now the got the US to fight for their own interest.... And yes, the two stripes in th israeli flag symbolise two rivers... Tiger and ephrates...iraq and iran! I rest my case.... wake up america!

Sending 21,500 more troops is like throwing a bottle of water into an inferno! Lets do this right, and do it quickly. Send 500,000 troops in there and take control now. Every major city can be taken and controlled. Maybe we never showed enough force. Instead of wasting time and money on nothing over 4 years, take Iraq in a year. Then simply move over to any other country(Afganistan) and take control. This would quiet the Iranians, Syrians, and any others who want to break America's might. I wish all Americans would remember their feelings and how angry we were on September 11, 2001. I am not a Bush supporter, but there are troops in harms way. WE must protect them. Maybe my Uncle who died in the early stages of Vietnam, would have had a better chance if he had serious troop strength behind him!!!

Most of the trouble in the middle east and south asia and africa comes directly from the abitrary creation of countries by European states without regard to Ethnic or cultural traditions. For example you have the Kurds as a minority in and split between three countries, Iran,Iraq, and Turkey. All of which abuse them. Tribes are split between two and three,even four states in Black Africa practically guaranteeing civil war. Then there is Yugoslavia. Which before the wars, was composed of Croatia,Serbia,Montenegro,Bosnia ethnic Albanians and Macedoneans and so on. Without thousands of Soviet troops to hold it togeather, we all know that story. Then there is the Sudan, the Palestinian conflict, the Lebanese civil war and so on. What needs to be done is for the UN to go through these countries and redraw the borders. That would end most of these conflicts. We can end Moslem terrorism by rounding up and shooting these Radical Clerics who are promoting it. Short of that we are stuck with it. The Romans spent centuries trying to solve the Jewish problem in till Titus smashed Jerusalem. They tried everything else. We have the same problem today with Moslem radicals. These people believe they have a divine right to wage Holy war on everybody who doesn't agree with them. They are fanatic dogmatics and cannot be reasoned with. So we can kill them or join them. All the political correctness and understanding and squeemishness in the world is not going to change that.

What happens six months from now when 21,000 additional troops are still not enough to allow us to exit froim Iraq on a timetable? Will the Senate cutoff of funds serve as a ploy by the current administration to say we now have to exit because there is a mandate being fulfilled by the voters? Will the eventual exit cause a lose-lose genocide bloodbath in which Saudia Arabia by default will have to enter into the conflict to say the Sunni minority?

John Loyd is a fake or a lune. He reads way too many Tom Clancey novels. The CIA is composed of Americans who like all other Americans have a wide variety of opinions and unfortunately have been airing thier dirty laundry in public lately. The Plame issue is nothing but politics on both sides. Plame was not even covert when she was outed.

a really dumb statement from this article: "Just like the Iraqi government of Nuri al-Maliki, they have to decide if they are with us or with the Iranians". the author apparently doesn't realize that the kurds and al maliki will be living next door to Iran forever. does the author also expects the USA to be there forever?

God bless you ed, You resurrected my faith in American people and fairness that this country should stand for, where are people like you in this blessed country,i almost lost hopes.That is what you expect from a real democratic country that people stand for justice not hypocracy and a lot of hogwash.

Message (please, no HTML tags. Web addresses will be hyperlinked):