General says Iraq may need U.N. force | Philadelphia Inquirer | 07/07/2010: "The top U.S. military commander in Iraq said Tuesday that U.N. peacekeeping forces may need to replace departing U.S. troops in the nation's oil-rich north if a simmering feud between Arabs and minority Kurds continues through 2011.
A U.N. force might offer both the Iraqi leadership and President Obama a politically palatable alternative to a continued U.S. presence to prevent ethnic tensions from descending into war. Although occasional bombings by Sunni extremists on Shiite targets grab the headlines, many observers believe the Kurdish-Arab dispute is the biggest fault line in Iraq today.
Gen. Ray Odierno brought up the possibility of a U.N. force during an interview with the Associated Press. He observed that there is no immediate end in sight to the years-long dispute between Arabs and Kurds, who have managed an uneasy political dance under American supervision since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
'That's something that has to be worked out,' Odierno said, discussing potential options to defuse hostilities if a pilot program to bring Kurdish troops into the Arab-dominated Iraqi army fails."
