Anarchy in Mosul as Saddam Routed in North Iraq; Turkey to Observe in Kirkuk

12/04/2003| IslamWeb

Iraq's third city Mosul fell to advancing U.S. forces and Kurdish fighters Friday after an entire Iraqi corps surrendered, completing the rout of Saddam Hussein's northern armies. In Ankara, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Thursday Turkish military observers would be in Kirkuk soon to track U.S. promises not to allow the northern Iraqi oil hub to be controlled by Kurdish forces.

Within hours, Mosul, which is a focus of historic rivalry between Arabs and Kurds, had descended into anarchy as looters sacked public buildings in a frenzy of arson and plunder.

US-led Forces in Control of All of Iraq's Oil

Elsewhere in the north, U.S. soldiers fanned out across Iraq's largest and oldest oilfield at Kirkuk, the other major northern city that fell to Kurdish "peshmerga" fighters and U.S. Special Forces without any real fight Thursday.

Securing the Kirkuk oilfield, capable of pumping 900,000 barrels per day, would leave U.S.-led forces in control of all of Iraq's oil, the world's second largest reserves of crude.

As law and order broke down in Mosul, a city of more than 1 million people some 240 miles north of Baghdad, there was little sign of U.S. soldiers or Kurdish peshmerga.

Plea for Help

Professors at a looted university issued a plea through the Arabic satellite television al-Jazeera for Kurdish and U.S.-led forces to establish order in the city.

"Mosul is facing a barbaric assault," Huthaif al-Dewaji, a professor of medicine, said, addressing his appeal to President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Kurdish leaders Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani.

"We urge Mr. Bush, Mr. Blair, Mr. Talabani, Mr. Barzani and the commanders of the peshmerga to help us establish some control."

Reuters Television producer Soheil Afdjei said he saw jubilant Iraqis, chanting anti-Saddam slogans, emerging from a Mosul branch of the Bank of Iraq with bundles of Iraqi dinars bearing Saddam's face that some tore to shreds.

As buildings started to blaze, the mood turned ugly.

In Kirkuk, until Thursday controlled by Arabs but claimed by both Kurds and ethnic Turkmen, the peshmerga said they were ready to leave as soon as U.S. forces came to provide security.

There are relatively few U.S. forces in northern Iraq after Turkey refused to let its territory be used to open a second front, but the Americans have managed to fly in a few tanks to give some muscle to their ground forces.

Turkish FM Gul Says Turkey to Observe in Kirkuk

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Thursday Turkish military observers would be in Kirkuk soon to track U.S. promises not to allow the northern Iraqi oil hub to be controlled by Kurdish forces.

Kurdish peshmerga fighters Kirkuk is historically Kurdish. The news of Kurdish military gains in northern Iraq rattled Turkey.

Gul told NTV television that the United States had assured him the Kurds would not be allowed to stay in control.

"The 173rd U.S. parachute unit will be in Kirkuk within a few hours. Turkish armed forces observers will enter too," Gul said during the live interview.

Turkey has a large force poised to enter northern Iraq to prevent any breakaway Kurdish state there, but Gul said Turkey was satisfied by U.S. pledges not to allow that.

"In the face of these guarantees there is no need for any tension," he said.

PHOTO CAPTION

Turkey's Chief of Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok leaves the Turkish premier's office after a meeting gathering Turkey's top generals, foreign and defense ministers, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and senior intelligence officers in Ankara on Friday, April 11, 2003. AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)