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Night & Day. Kassem's military tactics against the Kurds have been almost totally ineffective. Because one-third of his soldiers are of Kurdish origin, Kassem is afraid to send some units against the rebels, never gives his forces more than two days' supplies and ammunition, lest they turn on him. As in most guerrilla wars, the army controls the roads, particularly during the day, while the Kurds control the countryside, especially at night. The army rumbles up and down with its Soviet armor, smashing rebel roadblocks, while the Kurds move swiftly cross-country in small bands, armed mostly with light machine guns and mortars.
Barzani, whose English-cut suits look out of place among the tasseled turbans, billowy pants and murderous khanjars (curved daggers) of his followers, was so encouraged by his successes that last week he boosted his demands from Kassem.
No longer content with mere equality with the Arabs, he now insists on an autonomous Kurdish state within Iraq, running along the mountaintops from southern Turkey to the Persian Gulf; for this state he demands minority rights similar to those enjoyed "by minorities in such liberated countries as Switzerland, Yugoslavia, India and Czechoslovakia." The Russians are delighted to back Barzani's plan, which would give them access to the Middle Eastern Arab states and bring them closer to the Mediterranean.