Sending oil north through Turkey, trade relations for the Kurdish north of Iraq could be hurt through a vote for independence, the U.S. State Department said. A referendum of independence for the Kurdish region of northern Iraq is set for Sept. 25. The vote follows several decades of acrimony between Kurdish administrators and the federal government in Baghdad, acrimony that predates the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. In an August speech before legislators, Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said patience with Baghdad was wearing thin. The war with the terrorist group calling itself the Islamic State , the decline in global crude oil prices and an “unjust decision” by Baghdad to cut its share of the budget left it with a “heavy […]