  THE ANSWER TO ANSAR AL-ISLAM? Amid all the Byzantine dealmaking over what will happen to Kurdish northern Iraq, urlLink American bombing of Kirkuk, Mosul, Chamchamal and other areas is continuing and urlLink people are leaving these towns . Increasing numbers of U.S. forces are being moved there to open a second front. Interestingly, U.S. Marine Col. Keith Lawless, speaking in the Kurdish city of Salahuddin, said that it should not be presumed that these troops are being flown in, though senior PUK officials said that 300 Special Forces soldiers were flown to Suleymaniah on four transports, increasing the American presence in the area to approximately 500.
An American commander, urlLink Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Henry "Pete" Osman, has also arrived in northern Iraq . Some Special Forces troops urlLink are working with the Kurds to attack Iraqi positions near Chamchamal and Kirkuk. Other urlLink lightly armed U.S. soldiers are headed for Halabja , the front-line city in the Kurdish fight against Ansar al-Islam, the group some say was responsible for a car bomb attack over the weekend (Komala, a smaller Islamist group, may have also been responsible).
U.S. special forces and Kurdish peshmerga troops are urlLink preparing for a major ground assault against Ansar. urlLink Tomahawk missiles have rained down on Ansar villages in the mountainous border region, which may contain 1,000-3,000 Kurdish and Arab fighters. The first target for attacks will be urlLink Khurmal , a town with its own small Islamist group, which commands a strategic road leading into the mountains. When the fighting will start is still unclear. 
