CNN - Turkish troops enter Northern Iraq.

[jerryme1]

Good Job George.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/06/06/turkey.iraq.ap/index.html

[hatrack]

1. Oops! I think George just had a little geopolitical boo-boo!

What a fucking mess.

[jerryme1]

3. Who could have imagined such a scenario????

[hatrack]

4. No one could have imagined the Turks attacking the Kurds!

Why, such a thing has NEVER happened before.

:eyes:

[Dhalgren]

2. This is about to become serious...

[Philosoraptor]

6. What does this portend?

Hell, there's all sorts of scary scenarios.

[Dhalgren]

15. This could have a very dangerous affect on the Turkish government.

The Army is not entirely under civilian control in Turkey and there is a balancing act that has been maintained for some time - this could tip that. Also, the Islamic fundamentalists are making political headway in Turkey (the Army opposes them, so the West isn't too worried) and this could change the political dynamic in the country. Turkey is a NATO member, so how does the US manage (or mis-manage) this aspect of the situation? We could see a rupture in NATO over this (not that that would necessarily be a bad thing, but A THING, nonetheless). Right now the only group in Iraq that the US can even remotely claim as a real ally is the Kurds and Turkey, of course, is probably our (and Israel's, too) strongest ally in the region... This is just too volatile a mixture of cross interests to make any sense of.

Are we screwn yet?

[Bonobo]

5. Joe for Clark has been warning this would happen any minute...

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

20. Let us hope Joe for Clark is a nutcase, and this stays in the "skirmish" level. -nt

[AspenRose]

7. *heavy sigh*

I miss the hope and optimism I had for the 21st century back in 1999.

Now it looks like the world is guaranteed screwed up for a generation or two. Thanks indeed, Bunnypants. :mad:

[bdamomma]

11. me too, I had much optimism for us and our children.

this regime has to be surgically removed.

[Bandit]

17. The bridge to the 21st century was burned behind the GOP

Eight years of Peace and Prosperity, thank God that National Nightmare is over.. right????

[Lone_Star_Dem]

8. So, I guess we're going to be shifting soldiers up to the north?

Iraq is such a military and political screw up, and yet it manages to just keep getting worse.

[jerryme1]

10. I'm sure, based on the Bushco track record, that the U.S. will lead

a major diplomatic effort to alleviate this development.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

9. Also, on Yahoo.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070606/ap_on_re_mi_ea/turkey_iraq_4;_ylt=AqvzUzeEgE7ahWS7y.XcUSsE1vAI

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. "Several thousand troops" is "not a major offensive"

Oh, so that's alright then. I mean, it obviously took tens of thousands of people to assassinate Franz Ferdinand ...

Oh, even better:

The officials said any confrontation with Iraqi Kurdish groups, who have warned against a Turkish incursion, could trigger a larger cross-border operation. The Turkish military has asked the government in Ankara to approve such an incursion, but the government has not given formal approval.

So the army just invades another country without checking with its government? Hey, there's no possible way this could go wrong, is there?

[Bandit]

19. Reminds me of Korea and our cross border invasion of China

That wasn't approved by our Government either.

[Blackhatjack]

13. You can bet the Turks have a heads up on what is coming down the pike before doing this...

They have to believe there is going to be a power vacuum soon that the US will not fill, and they are acting preemptively.

And why is the US not preventing this action by Turkey? After all, the US created the no-fly zones over northern Iraq while Saddam was in power to protect the Kurds. And the Kurdish region has had the fewest attacks by insurgents compared to the rest of Iraq.

IF, and that is all it is --just a big IF, the US were to be involved in a direct attack on Iran, our attention and resources would be focused on Iran and the US would need Turkey's logistical support to pull it off.

Turkey's 'price' for that logistical support would be 'tacitly allowing' Turkey to put down rebel Kurd forces who want to establish a Kurdish homeland for Kurds in Iraq AND Turkey.

You can bet anything Turkey does is with full knowledge of US operations presently and prospectively.

[jerryme1]

16. Very plausible. Iran is next on the butchers' menu.

[jerryme1]

14. Imagine the Bushco spinmeisters feverishly at work preparing to tell the

world how this is actually a postive development for Iraq.

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. Op-ed from this morning: Turk-Kurd feud needs containing: Conflict mustn’t spread to Iraq

This is the last thing we - or the Iraqis - need. Preventing it must be a priority of America, Iraq and Europe.
...
The Kurdish Peshmerga militia troops - just recently integrated into the Iraqi national army - are no slouches, meaning plenty of bloodshed in a donnybrook with the Turks. Baghdad has also warned against any Turkish action. It needs Kurdish/Iraqi troops focused on al-Qaeda, foreign jihadists and other insurgents.

Fighting between Turks and Kurds in Iraq could also spread to Turkey’s large Kurdish population of about 15 million. Even an accidental engagement with U.S. troops would damage U.S.-Turkish relations, including Turkish air-base access for supplying U.S. forces in Iraq and Ankara’s support to Coalition efforts in Afghanistan.
...
More violence in Iraq, especially involving a major power and an ally like Turkey, would make our challenges there even more difficult. A Turkish-PKK war must be avoided at all costs.

http://news.bostonherald.com/editorial/view.bg?articleid=1004979&format=&page=2

[sabra]

21. White House: "NO NEW ACTIVITY" IN NORTHERN IRAQ

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L06739043.htm

06 Jun 2007 15:45:56 GMT
Source: Reuters

HEILIGENDAMM-WHITE HOUSE SAYS U.S. OFFICIALS IN REGION CONFIRM "NO NEW ACTIVITY" IN NORTHERN IRAQ FROM TURKISH FORCES

[WiseButAngrySara]

22. Damn. Is this one of the reasons why there is non-stop coverage

of Mr. non-contagious TB Man?