It promises to be a quiet day. Only one guard is posted on the front line in the clay hills 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Kirkuk, in northern Iraq. The other men drink tea under the awning of a tent and wait to see if the “Tigris Forces,” an army sent from Baghdad and under the personal command of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, will attack.

The Kurdish fighters have been waiting at this hilltop location for more than three months. First they dug trenches. Then they brought tanks and anti-aircraft missiles into position. Later, they dragged ovens, TV sets and carpets up to the hills.

The Tigris Forces are in the valley below. “They are better equipped militarily,” says Kurdish General Mohammed Saidar, “but we are peshmerga,” the Kurdish fighters who supposedly have no fear of death, “and we don’t give up. If necessary, we’ll go back into the mountains and fight as partisans!”

Officially, the premier’s army was sent to Kirkuk late last year to fight terrorism. The mission of the several thousand soldiers with the “Tigris Operations Command” was to gain control of the city.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) promptly mobilized its own troops, and the two armies have been facing off ever since — despite the fact that both belong to the security forces of the some country and their leaders recognize the same president, Jalal Talabani. However, after suffering a serious stroke, Talabani is currently in therapy at a rehabilitation clinic in Germany, barely able to speak.

Ten years after the United States and its allies invaded Iraq and rapidly toppled then-dictator Saddam Hussein, and after years of civil war and an uneasy peace, divisions of combat-ready Iraqis are being pitted against and prepared to shoot each other.

When they withdrew from Iraq in late 2011, the Americans hoped to leave behind a democratic country. Iraq’s enormous oil reserves, the thinking went, could easily provide the country with peace and prosperity. In early 2013, Iraqi oil production surpassed 3 million barrels a day and pushed ahead of Iranian production.

But the billions in revenues are not reaching ordinary people, and Iraq still isn’t at peace even a decade after the war began. Maliki’s plan to bring the country under the control of his Shiite troops has incensed Sunnis and Kurds. The premier has his army march under the black banner of the Shiites, as it fires on Sunni protestors and police officers. Feuding mafia-like cartels commit murder, and corruption is eating away at the nation. Bombs explode almost daily. On Tuesday alone, almost 20 bombs killed at least 65 people.

Meanwhile, Washington hardly has any influence over what happens in Baghdad anymore. And although Iran’s Shiite leadership supports Maliki, it has only limited control over events.

A More Peaceful Breaking Point

Kirkuk is a multiethnic city thousands of years old and claimed by Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen alike. American occupiers already viewed it as the predetermined breaking point of the new Iraq. They predicted that the various groups in the “Mesopotamian Jerusalem” would begin attacking each other after US troops had withdrawn.

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Tens years after the United States and its allies invaded Iraq and deposed Saddam Hussein, the country is still plagued by poverty, corruption and sectarian violence. One place that is doing suprisingly well is the northern city of Kirkuk, with some 900,000 residents from various ethnic and religious groups.