Turkey shells Iraqi village: witnesses

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Turkey shells Iraqi village: witnesses
Sat Oct 13, 2007 5:42pm EDT

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Turkish artillery fired seven
to eight shells into a village in northern Iraq late
on Saturday, witnesses in the area said.

The witnesses said the shells landed in Nezdoor
village, about 5 km (3 miles) from the Turkish
border, in Dahuk province. No casualties or
damage was reported.

Turkey routinely shells the mountainous border
region, but the latest shelling came before the
Turkish government was due to seek approval
from parliament next week for a major operation
against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants
based in the mountains of northern Iraq.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSKAR40163820071013

---

Source: Reuters

Rice urges Turkey to show restraint on Iraq
Sat Oct 13, 2007 6:06pm EDT

By Arshad Mohammed and Evren Mesci

MOSCOW/ANKARA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice said on Saturday she had
urged Turkey to refrain from any major military
operation in northern Iraq.

"I urged restraint," Rice, on a visit to Moscow,
told reporters of her telephone conversations on
Friday with Turkey's president, prime minister
and foreign minister.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL1354608620071013

[aquart]

1. Condi: "I urged restraint."

As in, there's not a fucking thing we can do about it. We have neither economic, moral, nor military superiority anymore. Thanks so much, George.

Turkey said it would invade to prevent a united Kurdistan. They told us they wouldn't allow it. WE KNEW THAT GOING INTO IRAQ. WE KNEW. Now Turkey, our NATO ally, will make every effort to do to the Kurds what it did to the Armenians. And there is not one fucking thing we can do because we are kitten weak and nothing but bluster AND THE WHOLE WORLD KNOWS IT.

[Orrin_73]

3. The kurdish terrorists have been killing Turkish

citizens and soldiers for years. They are comming from their bases in northern iraq, the kurdish regional government and the american army did nothing to stop them. The Turks have a right to stop them.

[aquart]

5. Absolutely. Just like Israel.

The really ironic thing is that the Israelis have been working with the Kurds on training. Ain't nothing simple in the Middle East.

But I am on the side of the Kurds. In my life I have known exactly one Turk and one Kurd. On that small sample, I prefer the Kurds.

[Orrin_73]

7. hmmmm, that is a very small sample

I guess you either flunked statistics or your knowledge of statistics is nihil.

[TomInTib]

4. Condi: "I urged restraint."

Volumes could be written on that quote, alone.

And Jesus wept.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[TomInTib]

17. Back then, I could never understand why the Glaspie thing didn't get more play.

Remember Schwartzkoff telling the journos that if they thought it was about oil, then they were in the wrong profession?

[Riktor]

9. It has nothing to do with superiority

The United States has consistently opposed the creation of Kurdestan, in part to preserve relations with Turkey, and partly because we don't want to create another Islamic state.

We aren't going to reprimand Turkey for a number of similar reasons. First, we need Turkey as a launching point for operations in the Middle East. Second, we are actively attempting to prevent the partitioning of Iraq along sectarian lines. Encouraging Kurdish partisans would only intensify their desire to break away from Iraq and create their coveted Kurdestan.

Say what you will about the Turkish government and its incessant denial of past atrocities, but you cannot fault them for protecting themselves from PKK incursions. Normally, if terrorists are operating out of a neighboring nation, it would be prudent to conduct diplomatic talks to reach an amicable solution. Obviously, Turkey can't do this, as the Iraqi government is utterly incapable of controlling its people. Of course, we aren't going to run to Turkey's aid either, as Kurdish Iraq is one of the safer regions of Iraq for Americans to travel and conduct business. While I sympathize with the Kurdish cause, the PKK is nothing short of a terrorist organization and, like Hammas and Hizbollah, they do more to harm their cause than advance it.

[aquart]

11. Yes. True. But in this case, I simply like the Kurds.

Go figure.

[Riktor]

13. I like them both, actually

I've known a few Turks and a few Kurds, and I admire both cultures. Ultimately, I feel bad for them because they are caught in the middle of political posturing on the part of the Turkish government and Kurdish terrorist organizations.

[IndianaGreen]

10. We wouldn't tolerate Mexican terrorists coming across the border to attack us

Turkey has shown a lot of restraint, and all it got was more dead and wounded civilians.

The PKK are terrorists in the true sense of the word.

[burrowowl]

14. A bit off the subject

Mexico has had to put up with U$ terrorists (so far from God and so close the U$) invading Mexico for a long time, e.g. bombing of Veracruz, read Smedley Butler for one and Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States". One instance in 1910 the U$ sent Marines over the border to quell forced labor indians striking against American Smelter and Refining.
I have instances up to the late 40's of bad stuff from family experience. Other stuff later on from history, like when the WTO made a deal with Mexico it's economy went to hell.
The Turks are a bit more liberal regarding women.

[Xipe Totec]

2. I'm sure they killed only terraists.

:sarcasm:





"I urged restraint," Rice, on a visit to Moscow, told reporters...





If this wasn't so tragic, I'd be rolling on the floor laughing.

[Nimrod2005]

6. A BushCheneyRice cluster fuck!!!

[unkachuck]

8. yes, and look at their achievement....

....a NATO vs NATO opportunity....the mind boggles at the possibilities....

[bvar22]

12. The WORLD urged Bush to show restraint ....

...and let the UN Weapon Inspectors finish their job.

We all know how that worked out.

[Dover]

15. CIA, MEK, PJAK, PKK, al-Quds

... THE ROVING EYE
General Petraeus in his labyrinth
By Pepe Escobar

General David Petraeus, media-hungry US supreme commander in Iraq doubling as Pentagon counterinsurgency messiah, will continue to be the key pawn in the current, breathless demonization-of-Iran campaign, whose target is to manufacture consent for an American attack against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) inside Iran.

Petraeus's latest is that Iran's ambassador to Baghdad, Hassan Kazemi-Qomi, "is" a member of the elite al-Quds force of the IRGC, now upgraded by Washington to the status of "terrorist organization".

In - what else - a remix of the lead up towards war on Iraq, Petraeus even has his own Kurdish version of Ahmad Chalabi. According to Rozhnama, a credible, independent daily paper published in Sulaymaniah, in Iraqi Kurdistan, he is "a special and informed source belonging to an Iranian opposition group".

A seasoned, highly respected US-based Kurdish scholar, who'd rather remain anonymous, says: "I'll bet my every dollar this means a Kurdish group. No Persian group is going to give information to the Iraqi Kurds."

Petraeus's dubious sources also include the ragtag Mujaheddin-e Khalq (MEK), a micro-terrorist group that used to be harbored by Saddam Hussein inside Iraq and now is protected by the Americans in Diyala province. So from Saddam's terrorists the MEK are now elevated to the status of "our" terrorists.

The Kurdish scholar stresses that this Kurdish source, or sources, don't have close relations with the MEK. "The Kurdish group with whom the US and Israel are doing business is the PKK arm - PJAK . Which explains why the PKK's reward is a Washington wink while they attack Turkey. At this time, the indigenous Iranian Kurdish groups are not leaders, they are followers hoping to replicate the Iraqi Kurdish situation in Iran if they can help to bring down the Tehran regime."

So what we have is basically a situation of Kurdish PKK guerrillas attacking Turkey from bases in Iraqi Kurdistan, and PJAK guerrillas attacking Iran also from bases in Iraqi Kurdistan. As early as six months ago United Press International was reporting that "the Bush administration was actively courting PKK leaders and Iranian opposition groups based in Iraq to stir up trouble inside Iran".

Tehran knows exactly what's going on. Editorials at the conservative Mehr news agency in Iran routinely accuse the US - and especially the CIA - of using both MEK and PJAK to "destabilize Iran". As much as Turkey now wants to go after the PKK rear bases in Iraqi Kurdistan, Iran has already shelled PJAK rear bases in Iraqi Kurdistan....>

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IJ13Ak01.html

[struggle4progress]

18. Iraqi Kurds urge end to Turkey border row

Sun Oct 14, 2007 3:24pm EDT
DUBAI, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The government of Iraqi Kurdistan said it was committed to stopping cross border attacks by Kurdish separatists against Turkey but called for a political solution amid Turkish threats to invade its neighbour.

Nechirvan Barzani, Prime Minister of Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government, told Al Jazeera Television the problem of attacks by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), whose rebels use northern Iraq as a base, could not be resolved militarily ...

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday Ankara was prepared to face any international criticism if his country launched an attack on Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.

... faced with a sharp escalation of attacks by Kurdish militants on Turkish troops, Erdogan's government has decided to seek approval from parliament next week for a major military operation against the PKK rebels ...

http://www.reuters.com/article/middleeastCrisis/idUSL14110842