We nearly had our Arab vs Kurd civil war the other day up here in Northeast Diyala. I don't think it would have broken down into a full scale civil war throughout the entire disputed zone, but it could have.
It all started with a parking infraction.
Tensions apparently have been pretty high between the Kurdish Peshmerga and the Iraqi Army here for a few weeks now. I was out of the loop while I was on leave but our little tripartite missions are becoming more and more difficult to coordinate and conduct. The trust and partnerships we were attempting to build with both our combined checkpoints and tripartite operations is beginning to crumble...but I'm likely exaggerating the situation a bit.
The other day in Qara Tapa a Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) official decided to park his car in the marketplace. This is normally not that big of a deal, many people park in the marketplace. The problem on this day however was that the Iraqi Army had reports of a possible carbomb in the area and were not letting just anyone park in the market. The soldiers told the PUK official to move his vehicle. He refused.
He was also apparently drunk (I got that bit of info from an Iraqi Army officer so it may not be true).
His friend was also apparently drunk and made the situation worse.
The PUK official tried to claim that other people were parked in the market and he should be allowed to park there as well because he was important. The IA soldiers didn't know who he was so figured he was just being an idiot. The PUK official's friend got belligerant and the IA decided they had enough of these two and detained them.
The Peshmerga brigade commander for the area got wind of this detainment and determined the best course of action was to send 75-100 Peshmerga soldiers to Qara Tapa to secure the PUK official's release.
100 Peshmerga surrounded the IA battalion HQ and blocked vehicle movement in the town. Tensions were high. We of course sent Strykers out to Qara Tapa to ensure that any fighting that broke out would be tripartite...because everything in the combined security area must involve all three parties.
Luckily, the arrival of Americans kickstarted common sense and the PUK official was released and both sides publicly apologized for the incident. It's almost too bad because had civil war broken out at that moment I could have said I was a witness to it all. I can imagine being interviewed 20 years later on the History Channel saying something like "it all started when some dumbass refused to move his car".
Now for the deep thought of the day:
About 2 weeks ago a Peshmerga vehicle blew up near an IA checkpoint. The Peshmerga blame the IA for either allowing the IED to be emplaced at the location or emplacing it themselves to blow up the Peshmerga. The IED was actually placed on the vehicle (a magnetic IED or MAIED). Intial thoughts are always "oh, it's likely just Al Qaeda attacking security forces in the area".
But what if it's deeper than that...which it most certainly is.
The soldiers blown up belong to the KDP, the other Kurdish political party. The KDP and PUK have kept seperate battalions, seperate police, and seperate intelligence services throughout Kurdistan. For the Peshmerga, the battalion you joined depended on which political party you belonged to and the two political parties funded the units that belonged to them. The Kurdish Regional Government has been attempting to combine all organizations split by party into one. For the Peshmerga, units would be merged down to platoon level.
You can never simplify things in Iraq. One must remember that there are two political parties in Kurdistan for a reason. The KDP and PUK at one time fought a mini Kurdish civil war. The two parties have been serious rivals for a long time.
Was this MAIED attack Kurd on Kurd violence? Did PUK Peshmerga soldiers deliberately plant the IED in order to do harm to rival soldiers? Or possibly to disrupt tripartite operations and were willing to sacrifice some KDP soldiers to do it?
And you thought Democrats and Republicans were bad.
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