Kurdistan - Jalal Talbani and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)

Uncle Jalal (as Talabani is known) and the boys really got going in 1975. The latest Kurdish rebellion had just been crushed by-guess who?-yes, dear old Saddam. It should be said that the United States and the Shah of Iran had just withdrawn all military support for the Kurds. Saddam had just given the Shatt-al-Arab waterway to Iran. In return for such generosity the Shah of Iran decided that he no longer needed to support the Kurdish rebellion. Oooopps! In turn some of the boys decided to blame Mullah Mustafa Barzani, the then Kurdish leader, for being a "lackey of imperialism" in overly depending on Iranian support. This being the '70s, quite a lot of them had commie tendencies. So, they wrote a letter to Jalal, who was then Mullah Mustafa's rep in Egypt, asking him to take the reins in the new party, which split from the KDP to become the PUK. As said, the kids cast around for an ideology and decided to plump for Marx with a bit of Lenin thrown in . . . come on, it was the '70s after all!

The PUK flag is green and its headquarters are at Zahle, deep in the mountains on the Iranian border. It gets some military support from Iran. The main areas of PUK support are the southeastern parts of northern Iraq. The PUK militia comprises about 25,000 men. They control their area from Sulymanya, which is a thriving hub of spies and revolutionaries. Turkish intelligence (known as MIT) and the PKK both have offices in Sulymanya. The Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) and Iranian intelligence also both have offices there. In addition the CIA, MI6 and Saddam's mukhabarat all have a number of operatives running around town. Ya better be careful who ya talk to.

Jalal is something of a talker, which means that if-like DP-you're interviewing him it is often hard to get a word in edgeways. Fluent in English, Jalal will warble on ad lib with great charm. There's nothing he likes better than swanning around the international circuit. An invitation to Washington will see him making tracks to the airport almost before the invite has hit the doormat. He lives outside Sulymanya and also has a house in Damascus.

That said, Jalal is also knocking on a bit these days, which has left the rest of the gang wondering who will take over once he ups it. Seeing as you're a DP reader, we'll give you the inside scoop on the PUK leadership contenders. First, there's Kossrat Rassul, the current PUK prime minister. Kossrat's from Arbil. In the old days he used to covertly direct PUK assassination squads against Saddam's buddies in Arbil. Unfortunately, someone welched on him and he had to make some rather fast tracks to the mountains from where he continued the good fight. A member of the KDP described Kossrat as "an absolutely ruthless killer" as well as "utterly charming." DP will vouch for the "utterly charming" bit. Following fast on Kossrat's heels on the KDP hate list is Jabbar Farman, who was also called an "absolute killer." Jabbar-you will not be surprised to know-is the PUK's military commander. He also has an impeccable anti-Saddam record. In the '70s, he was locked up for a few years in the charming Abu Gharib prison, where most people tend to come out in very small pieces-or one big box. Jabbar survived and subsequently became the terror of Iraqi soldiers, leading PUK fighters on raids against Saddam and Co. As you can imagine, there's a fair amount of infighting and clawing behind the scenes in the PUK politburo. Yes, they still call it a politburo.

Patriotic Union of Kurdistan

Tel.: [44] (181) 642-4518

Att: Latif Rashid

USA Tel.: (703) 345-3056/

UK Tel.: [44] (181) 993-2196

France Tel.: [33] (1) 3916 0473

Turkey Tel.: [90312] 4402199

Germany Tel.: [49] (30) 344 8738

http://www.puk.org