Kurds Flout Baghdad, Begin Independent Drilling

The Kurdish government has begun drilling for oil at a new field near the northern city of Dohuk, a direct challenge to Baghdad's control over the nation's resources....

The oil fight is only one battle in a broad campaign by the Kurdistan government to gradually increase its independence. At the heart of the campaign is the regional government's claim on the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which lies just south of Kurdistan's de facto border.