Talibani to provide US with bases in northern Iraq for any attack

The Iraqi Kurdish leader Jalal al-Talibani on Tuesday announced he is ready to give the bases his group controls in northern Iraq to Washington, in order to launch a likely American attack against the regime of the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

In an interview with CNN TV network, the leader of the Kurdistani national federation said that the US gave a positive answer to this proposed offer which will protect the Kurdish forces from Iraqi chemical or biological weapons.

Al-Talibani added that, contrary to certain rumors, the American army will be welcomed in Iraq's Kurdistan.

Worthy mentioning that the Kurdistani national federation is one of the two groups which control northern Iraq, which is out of Baghdad's control since the Gulf war in 1991. The second group is the Kurdistani democratic party which is led by Al-Talibani's enemy Masoud al-Barazani.