Leaders of Iraq and the semiautonomous region of Kurdistan warned that they were close to civil war, due to Exxon Mobil’s attempt to drill for oil, amidst negotiations between the two opposing armies.
Commenting on the situation, a confidant of Iraqi Prime Minister, Sami Alaskary said,
“The prime minister has been clear: If Exxon lays a finger on this territory, they will face the Iraqi army. We don’t want war but we will go to war, for oil and for Iraqi sovereignty.”
The military stand of at the disputed borders is a result of the harassment of a Kurdish fuel seller by Iraqi forces. The Kurdish merchant asked Kurdish soldiers for protection.
Kurdistan President Massoud, promptly responded by ordering thousands of reinforcements to prevent a possible Iraqi invasion.
Military leaders from both sides have warned that fighting could commence with just a single misfire.
The Iraqi Kurds were subject to ethnic cleansing under Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi regime. The fall of Saddam saw the Kurds obtain significant autonomy in northern Iraq.
The Kurdistan regional government now provides all public services, controls its own police and security forces and flies its own flag.
