"Two weeks into the war, American commanders reported a string of successes - on the battlefield and within an Iraqi population initially reticent about embracing invading troops. Kurdish fighters in the north chipped in, when a top leader suggested they may agree not to seek control of the northern city of Kirkuk."

---Hmmm, seems the mainstream press got it wrong. Simply extraordinary. You'd think they were anti-American or something.
By the way, the news about Kirkuk is excellent. Its a very important city for the Kurds, the center of their nationalistic ambitions and the projected capital of an independant Kurdistan. Its been cleansed of Kurds in recent years and there was great fear that the Kurds would attack and cause an intervention by Turkey to protect the Turkmen population there. (Basically an excuse for Turkey to get a foothold in Northern Iraq.) This could have resulted in Kurdish irregulars fighting it out with the Turks and the Iraqis with the Americans caught in between. If this deal goes through it means a major potential headache has been avoided.