Kirkuk: A Potential Iraq Hot Spot Needs U.S. Attention Now
WASHINGTON--Kirkuk, the northern Iraq city and surrounding province that produces a large share of Iraq's oil, is a potential hot spot of interethnic tension in the aftermath of the Iraq war. Claimed historically by both Kurds (at one time a majority in the province) and Turkmen (at one time a majority in the city), Kirkuk has seen the displacement of much of its Kurdish, Turkmen, and Christian population by the Saddam Hussein regime, which sought to "Arabize" it by importing over 250,000 mos...