It's been a while but I'm back in style

Ikke alle hader Saddam.

TIKRIT, Iraq (AFP) – Iraqi tribes held demonstrations across the country on Saturday to protest a Kurdish leader's criticism of new alliances emerging between the clans and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Hundreds of people turned out for demonstrations in the the northern Sunni town of Tikrit -- the hometown of executed dictator Saddam Hussein -- and the mostly Shiite southern cities of Karbala, Nasiriyah, Samawah, and Hilla, AFP correspondents said. (...)

In the oil-rich Kirkuk province -- hotly disputed and fractured into Arab, Kurdish and Turkmen communities -- thousands of Arabs gathered at a football stadium outside Hawijah, once a hotbed of the country's Sunni insurgency.

"All of Hawijah calls out to Maliki, Glory of our country!" the crowd chanted, reprising a slogan once used at rallies for Saddam. "With our souls, with our blood, we sacrifice for you, Kirkuk!" they cried.

Det virker som om, at sammenligningerne mellem al-Maliki og Saddam Hussein er ønsketænkning. "Gid han var, bare han er," tænker araberne. Kurderne har til gengæld ingen grund til at længes efter fortiden, og det her må være ret behåret at høre på.

Jeg ved ikke, hvordan man skal skære den. Og det er alligevel teori; i virkeligheden er den moderate kurdiske leder Talabani ved at tabe brydekampen med Ælde, mens den bryske nationalist Barzani dominerer. Og for kurderne er der kun de to at vælge imellem. Barzani:

ARBIL, Iraq (AFP) – A top Iraqi Kurdish leader has said the US military could have bases in northern Iraq if Washington and Baghdad fail to sign the controversial security deal, a local newspaper reported on Sunday.

Massud Barzani, the president of northern Iraq's regional Kurdish administration, said that his government would "welcome" such a move, the Khabat, the newspaper run by Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party, quoted him as saying.

Talabani:

BAGHDAD (AFP) – Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has said that American troops can set up bases in northern Iraq's Kurdish region only if the Shiite-led government in Baghdad gives its approval.

"It is not possible for US troops to stay in Kurdistan without the approval of the central government," Talabani said in an interview with state television Al-Iraqiya late on Sunday.

"Kurdistan is part of Iraq, and all of the country's constitutional laws apply to it."

Kurderne har overspillet deres hånd, de er simpelthen i en elendig magtposition. Talabani ved det, men Talabani er svækket.

Saddam 4eva...