Re the miseries that Jack the Sailor speaks of, an editorial in this morning's New York Times says: "The unfolding mess in northern Iraq is a reminder that if we invade Iraq, we are stepping into an immensely complex region of guns, clans and hostilities that we only dimly understand. The White House thinks it can choreograph the warfare, but if we can't control effete gavel-wielding diplomats on the familiar turf of the United Nations, how will we manage feuding troops with mortars in the mountains of northern Iraq?

"The nightmare is that the Turks, Kurds, Iraqis and Americans will all end up fighting over the oil fields of Kirkuk or Mosul. The Americans plan to get there first to seize the oil fields and avert a broader conflict, but in the chaos of war that may not be possible. Turkey is terrified that Iraqi Kurds will emerge from a war with access to oil to finance a viable Kurdistan — which they say could become a base for more Kurdish terrorism in Turkey."

He also says that Turkey is rolling trucks full of Turkish soldiers to the border- and confiscating the film of reporters.