CHAMCHAMAL, Iraq, 26 March 2003 — This was supposed to be the northern front, where US forces would sweep into the oil-rich cities of Kirkuk and Mosul, and then push south to Baghdad.
But the streets of Kurdish-controlled Chamchamal, about two miles from forward Iraqi positions protecting Kirkuk, are being patrolled by a few hundred ill-equipped Kurdish fighters. The Kurds have no artillery, no tanks, no gas masks and no flak jackets. Most of the town’s 60,000 residents have fled into plains and villages deeper inside the Kurdish-controlled territory, fearing that Iraqi forces may launch a chemical attack on the front lines.
This is not what US military leaders had planned. The autonomous Kurdish enclave was supposed to have been occupied by several thousand American soldiers, who would protect its 3.5 million residents from Saddam Hussein’s forces. Another 60,000 US troops were expected to move into Kirkuk and Mosul, and continue advancing toward the Iraqi capital.
But Turkey’s refusal to allow US ground troops and heavy armor to deploy from its soil has left the 138-mile-long northern front in the hands of poorly armed Kurdish fighters who face a vastly superior Iraqi Army.
“We really don’t know what the Americans are planning to do and when they will start their ground attack on Kirkuk,’’ said Adel Mohammad Amin, the security chief in Chamchamal. “We don’t know what we’re supposed to do, so we’re staying in a defensive position and hoping that the Iraqis don’t attack us.’’
The lack of a large US presence in northern Iraq has created a vacuum in the early days of war that could lead to attacks by the Iraqi Army and ethnic fighting in Kirkuk. A city of 1 million people, Kirkuk has a potentially explosive mix of ethnic, religious and political groups all vying for control of its oil wealth.
“We hoped for a larger US military presence in our region before the war started,’’ said Rizgan Ali, who serves as governor of Kirkuk province in the Kurdish self-government. “As things stand now, we are vulnerable to an Iraqi attack or to foreign intervention from Turkey.’’
