In 1976, he began organizing an armed campaign for Kurdish independence inside Iraqi Kurdistan.

In 1991, he helped inspire a renewed effort for Kurdish independence.

They fear that federalism could be a way station to Kurdish independence - and they may be right.

Newspaper related calls for Kurdish independence with that of supporting Armenians nationalism as well.

With the rise of the movement for Kurdish independence, the existing formation has been enlarged from the size of a battalion to a brigade.

"Under this constitution, Kurdish independence is just a matter of time."

Turkey - a friend of the US - was against Kurdish independence, which would have stopped the fighting.

Almost no other political or social group in the region is agreeable to the idea of Kurdish independence.

It is in Saddam's interest to have a force directly opposing Kurdish independence.

But some Iraqi leaders have already expressed resentment at the most important safeguard of Kurdish independence: the power to veto the new constitution.