Kurds seek independence vote amid Iraq \\\'chaos\\\'

BAGHDAD, July 4 (AFP): Iraqi Kurdish preparations for an independence referendum met with frustration in Washington, which stressed unity was essential to tackle a jihadist-led onslaught that risks "Syria-like chaos".
In a rare piece of positive news during the crisis, however, a group of 46 Indian nurses caught up in the conflict were to be freed, one of them told AFP.
Iraqi Kurdish president Massud Barzani told the autonomous region's parliament on Thursday that it should make "preparations to begin to organise a referendum on the right of self-determination", but the US opposed the move.
The prospect of an independent state is made more attractive by what the Kurds say is Baghdad's unwillingness to resolve the issue of disputed territory and late and insufficient budget payments to the region.
The White House gave the Kurdish leader's idea for an independence referendum a cool reception, with White House spokesman Josh Earnest saying that "we continue to believe that Iraq is stronger if it is united".
"That is why the United States continues to support an Iraq that is democratic, pluralistic and unified, and we are going to continue to urge all parties in Iraq to continue working together toward that objective."
US Vice President Joe Biden later met Barzani's chief of staff Fuad Hussein at the White House, and told the Kurdish delegation of the "importance of forming a new government in Iraq that will pull together all communities" to combat the Islamic State (IS), the group leading the insurgent drive, a White House statement said.