Kurdish Soldiers Join Battle for Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Jan. 21, 2007 — -- As part of the new operation to secure Baghdad, the Iraqi army is making what some call a gamble. They're sending in thousands of Kurdish troops.

There are three main ethnic groups in Iraq: the Kurds, the Shiites and the Sunnis. The Shiites and Sunnis are at each other's throats in Baghdad, with sectarian violence increasing every week.

This leaves some to wonder what the benefit of bringing a third group into the fray will be.

The Kurds live in a peaceful, mountainous enclave in Northern Iraq, far from the daily car bombs and suicide bombers of Baghdad. Yet Baghdad's deadly streets are where Kurdish soldiers -- thousands of them -- are now headed.

"We are all Iraqi soldiers," said one Kurdish man. "Why should coalition troops come from the U.S. to defend us when we can do it ourselves?"

But American military advisors say Kurdish soldiers privately tell a different story. They are afraid of getting stuck in the middle of a civil war between Shiites and Sunnis; a war they have nothing to do with.

Kurdish soldiers make up two of the three Iraqi army brigades being sent to Baghdad under President Bush's new strategy. These soldiers have been recognized as better-trained than other fighters in Iraq.

The two brigades were formed from Kurdistan's pesh merga militia, received training from the U.S. military, and were eventually integrated into the Iraqi army.

"These folks are really uncomfortable coming down here," said Lt. Col. Dennis Chapman. "The decision to deploy this brigade was very unpopular in the Kurdish region. … You talk to most of the soldiers here; their families didn't want them to come."

And many didn't come. Kurds are mostly Sunni, but not Arab. Hundreds deserted the army rather than go on this mission. They believe they aren't part of the problem between Sunnis and Shiites.

Many Kurds don't even want to be part of Iraq. They have their own culture and their own language. Most of the roughly 3,000 Kurdish soldiers who will be patrolling Baghdad's dangerous streets do not speak Arabic, the dominant language.