Kurds Seize Disputed Oil Hub Amid Iraq Chaos

[flowers]

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2014/June/Kurds-Seize-Disputed-Oil-Hub-Amid-Iraq-Chaos/

KIRKUK, Iraq (AP) -- After a decades-long dispute between Arabs and Kurds over the oil-rich northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, it took just an hour and a half for its fate to be decided.

As al-Qaida-inspired militants advanced across northern Iraq and security forces melted away, Kurdish fighters who have long dominated Kirkuk ordered Iraqi troops out and seized full control of the regional oil hub and surrounding areas, according to a mid-ranking Army officer. He said he was told to surrender his weapons and leave his base.

His account was corroborated by an Arab tribal sheik and a photographer who witnessed the looting of army bases after troops left and who related similar accounts of the takeover from relatives in the army. All three spoke to The Associated Press Friday on condition of anonymity because they feared retribution from Kurdish forces.

"They said they would defend Kirkuk from the Islamic State," said the Arab officer, who oversaw a warehouse in the city's central military base. He asked that his rank not be made public.

[Chieftain]

Turkey is not going to stand by and allow the Iraqi Kurds to form an independent Kurdish State on the Turkish Border.  There are too many ethnic Kurdish Turks who would gladly join them and try to seize Turkish land to expand that Kurdish State.

This is yet another potential disaster in the making because of the Leadership vacuum created when Obama summarily withdrew US Forces from the World beginning in 2009.  When this all explodes it will result in one of the greatest humanitarian slaughters in history.  There are so many centuries old grudges at play in that corner of the globe it is difficult to recall just who hates who more or less than any other.

Jordan and Israel have to be watching this very closely, keeping a low profile and not antagonizing, while trying to prepare for the worst.

All that's needed is the right spark.