ERBIL, IRAQ -- For the past three years, Ali Musawi has been reporting for Press TV on updates, agreements, and clashes involving Daesh (ISIS), Kurdish factions, and the Iraqi armed forces. In an October 17, 2017 interview with Musawi, I was able to obtain on-the-ground insight from a war correspondent living in Erbil into the KRG referendum, the
War Report: An Interview With War Correspondent Ali Musawi On The Kurdish Referendum
Acquiring leverage for expansion and not independence had always been the purpose of the referendum. The KDP et al had calculated that they needed ownership of Kirkuk’s oil for any prospect of independence, so expansion was the first priority.