Kurds balk at proposal for them to join fight

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Already a dangerous battleground for an array of forces, Baghdad could soon be flooded with another volatile element: thousands of Kurds from northern Iraq.

As part of President Bush’s new strategy for Iraq, between 8,000 and 10,000 Iraqi troops will deploy to Baghdad from elsewhere in the country in the coming weeks, according to American and Iraqi officials. As many as 3,600 of them could be Kurds. It would be the first time such a large number of Kurdish forces have been sent to the capital.

The impending deployment has raised fears among Kurds, most of whom live in a well-protected autonomous enclave, that they are being dragged more directly into Iraq’s bloody and complex civil war.

Most of the fighting in Iraq takes place between Sunnis and Shiites, but Kurds fear that could change if they’re seen as players in the country’s main struggle.

“I don’t think it’s wise,” said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish lawmaker in Baghdad. “This is a Sunni-Shiite conflict.”

Kurdish troops are not acquainted with Baghdad, many speak neither Arabic nor English, and their participation could create an even deeper conflict between Kurds and Arabs, he said.

While large numbers of Kurds mix with Arabs in the Kirkuk and Mosul areas of northern Iraq, and a small number live in the capital, Sunni and Shiite politicians also question the wisdom of bringing Kurdish soldiers into the conflict.

“I advise the Kurdish people to apply pressure on their leaders to prevent this step,” said Mohammed al-Dayni, a lawmaker from a main Sunni bloc. Kurdish forces, he said, “will face firm resistance from both the Sunnis and the Shiites.”

Sheik Abdul-Razzaq Naddawi, an aide to anti-American Shiite cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, agreed that Kurdish troops would not be welcome.

The idea of using Kurdish troops to quell violence in both Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad originated in backroom talks among the country’s main power brokers. With a historical chance to live their dream of autonomy, Kurdish lawmakers were extremely reluctant to take part in the plan. But Iraqi officials as well as U.S. military and political officials argued that if they failed to participate, they were told, it would show their lack of commitment to the nation.