  U.S. SPECIAL FORCES & KURDS TAKE KIRKUK Peshmerga from the Iraqi Kurdish PUK have taken Kirkuk the way they have taken most of northern Iraq: after long periods of U.S. bombing, the Kurds were able to walk into the city urlLink virtually without a fight . The Iraqis retreated, back to Mosul, or more likely Tikrit. The big deal of course is that the Turks said this city was not supposed to be taken by the Kurds. The U.S. sent Colin Powell to Ankara recently, probably to massage the Turks into agreeing that the Kurds could go into the city under the coordination and control of U.S. Special Forces soldiers. Abdullah Gul, Turkish foreign minister, said that the U.S. had given assurances that Kurdish forces would not remain in control of Kirkuk. Turkey will be urlLink sending military observers to the city I have a feeling the U.S. may have a little leeway in clearing the Peshmerga out of Kirkuk. There has already been looting in the city and the U.S. and Kurdish forces will have to stem this. In addition, there will be security problems if and when Kurds forced out of the city come back to the city to reclaim their homes and settle old scores.
The U.S. can take on these problems itself, but it will be easier if the Kurdish forces now in the city cooperate in taking care of the problem. Once things settle down, the Peshmerga can be moved out of the city proper and defend it. urlLink Regular U.S. soldiers and people now inside the city (not just Kurds) can probably take care of internal security then.
The big decision now is whether the U.S. forces will move south to engage forces surrounding Tikrit or go on to Mosul, which they probably can take without much more difficulty than Kirkuk? The U.S. will have to spend considerable time mopping up around Baghdad - it is a huge city, but if Saddam is not captured or killed during those operations, there will be a strong push to take out those in Tikrit. 
