Iraq: February 2, 2003

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Turkey is moving additional troops to the Iraqi border. At least one battalion is on the move and others have been alerted.

Iraq has been moving portable oil production equipment out of it's northern oil fields (around Kirkuk). Kurds fear this is in preparation of setting fire to the northern oil fields, which many Kurds consider their own. Iraqi police have been arresting more local Kurds as "terrorists." For over a decade, the government has been forcing Kurds to move further north and replacing them with Arabs. 

The US says it will not run Iraq with a military government (as was the case in Germany and Japan after World War II) after a war. Instead, once the fighting has stopped (a few weeks, at most), the US will put Iraqi exiles and local leaders in charge temporarily until elections can be held. While many members of the Baath political party would be removed, especially those in the secret police, most of the large Iraqi bureaucracy would remain. 

 

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