Iraq: Kurdish Conflict Takes Center Stage

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice paid a visit to the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Dec. 18 to help ongoing power- and revenue-sharing talks. The visit occurs following U.S.-approved Turkish military forays into northern Iraq, which have left Iraqi Kurds angered that Washington sided with Ankara against the Kurds. For Washington, Kurdish anger is just the cost of doing business in Iraq, and the United States is taking comfort from the progress on Shiite-Sunni relations. With sectarian conflict in Iraq losing steam, ethnic tensions pitting the Sunnis and the Shia against the Kurds will take center stage.