STRATFOR: week of April 26, 2003

STRATFOR: week of April 26, 2003

Turkish Commandos Captured in Northern Iraq
April 25, 2003

American forces have intercepted a number of Turkish commandos attached to a humanitarian aid convoy on its way to the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. U.S. intelligence tipped off the American forces to the movement of the Turks -- as well as to their apparent mission: to militarize Turkmen political groups that could act as proxy Turkish forces in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq.
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Iraqi Shiites: The Sadr Legacy
April 24, 2003

Sayyed Muqtada al-Sadr, backed by Al-Daawa, is looming to become a powerful force within Iraqi Shiite politics.
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The Iranian Game
April 24, 2003

The Shiite rising in Iraq has posed a major problem for the United States -- not only with the Iraqis, but with Iran. Tehran clearly has a degree of influence and even control over Iraqi Shiites, and it appears to us that the Iranians are using this confrontation to put themselves in a position to negotiate more effectively with the United States over the long-term geopolitical dynamic of the Persian Gulf.