Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraqi Kurds Expand Autonomy as ISIS Reorders the Landscape

Aug 29, 2014 | Helene Cooper and Michael R. Gordon, New York Times
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WASHINGTON —  The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has thrown Iraq into crisis, precipitated the ouster of Nuri Kamal al-Maliki as prime minister and brought the American military back to the country it left more than two years ago.But now Obama administration officials are quietly acknowledging another important consequence: a far more autonomous Kurdistan.The United States still officially opposes Kurdish independence, a decades-old policy that seeks to avoid further inflaming the region and provoking Turkey, Iraq and Iran, three countries with large and restive Kurdish minorities.