The president of Iraq's Kurdish autonomous region, Massoud Barzani, has rejected the Iraq Study Group's recommendations on ways to stabilize the country.
In a statement Friday, Barzani said the U.S. group's report has some unrealistic and inappropriate recommendations. He said, in his words, "we are in no way abiding by the report."
Barzani - a longtime U.S. ally - criticized the report's authors for never visiting the Kurdish region of northern Iraq in their months-long fact finding mission.
He particularly criticized the report's recommendation on Kirkuk, an ethnically mixed city that is key to Northern Iraq's oil industry. Iraq's constitution calls for referendum on the issue before the end of 2007, but the report calls for international arbitration to decide the city's future because a referendum would be explosive.
Barzani says delaying the vote will have grave consequences.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
