Iraq About To Be Invaded Again
Talk about a convoluted and confusing situation. The US occupation of Iraq is about to get magnitudes worse in the coming months. Turkey has apparently had enough of cross border incursions and mayhem caused by the PKK, or Kurdish Workers Party and is set to invade northern Iraq to go to war with them.
Just about every day headlines tell about the gruesome conflict between the Turks and Kurds. Yesterday seven Kurds were killed in southern Turkey, but the clinching event for a full scale invasion was an explosion last week in Ankara that killed and wounded over a hundred and was blamed on a Kurdish suicide bomber. Turkey has been warning the US and the Iraqi puppet government for some time to clamp down on the PPK and has moved an army to it's southern border. Prime minister Erdgan has vowed his support for an all out invasion.
This whole situation is a complicated mess that I'm sure the US will make much worse before it's over. The Kurds have wanted an independent state since forever and number about 30 to 35 million spread out in Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria. The relations between them an the US has generally been the warmest of any group in Iraq but Turkey is a fellow NATO member. Relations between Turkey and the US have been worsening since Turkey wouldn't allow american forces to be deployed there before the 2003 invasion. The occupation has cost Turkey dearly in terms of trade and they blame the americans for sitting on their hands while the Kurds pull off terrorist attacks. Things have gotten so bad they sharply rebuked the US military for violating Turkish air space when a couple of F16s flew over that troop buildup on the border.
"Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said "necessary steps would be taken" if U.S. jets violated Turkish airspace again. Erdogan did not elaborate."
This gets even more byzantine when you add the other elements - the Turkomen minority in northern Iraq which has close ties to Turkey, mixed up ethnic groups that were forced to resettle, Iran's nervousness about it's own restive Kurdish presense, the fight over who controls the fabulously rich Kirkuk oil field, even the close ties between the Kurds and Israelis.
Washington seems to be just standing around whistling with hands in pockets while the shit is about to hit the fan, sweatily hoping this contentious issue can be shelved. But it looks like it's inevitable and the only question is if it takes place before or after Turkish general elections on July 22. I have no doubt CIA spooks are all over the situation with covert intrigue but it has no good choices when it comes to an explosion in northern Iraq. Of course americans shouldn't have been in the thick of this ugly mess in the first place. My guess as to what the US will do? Since Turkey will be needed for the eventual war with Iran it will drop any pretense of support for the Kurds, screwing them over yet again like after the first Gulf Slaughter, thereby adding them to the forces determined to kick the occupiers out of Iraq.
As a matter of fact, is the US vacating the area for the Turks to have at them?
Just about every day headlines tell about the gruesome conflict between the Turks and Kurds. Yesterday seven Kurds were killed in southern Turkey, but the clinching event for a full scale invasion was an explosion last week in Ankara that killed and wounded over a hundred and was blamed on a Kurdish suicide bomber. Turkey has been warning the US and the Iraqi puppet government for some time to clamp down on the PPK and has moved an army to it's southern border. Prime minister Erdgan has vowed his support for an all out invasion.
This whole situation is a complicated mess that I'm sure the US will make much worse before it's over. The Kurds have wanted an independent state since forever and number about 30 to 35 million spread out in Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria. The relations between them an the US has generally been the warmest of any group in Iraq but Turkey is a fellow NATO member. Relations between Turkey and the US have been worsening since Turkey wouldn't allow american forces to be deployed there before the 2003 invasion. The occupation has cost Turkey dearly in terms of trade and they blame the americans for sitting on their hands while the Kurds pull off terrorist attacks. Things have gotten so bad they sharply rebuked the US military for violating Turkish air space when a couple of F16s flew over that troop buildup on the border.
"Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said "necessary steps would be taken" if U.S. jets violated Turkish airspace again. Erdogan did not elaborate."
This gets even more byzantine when you add the other elements - the Turkomen minority in northern Iraq which has close ties to Turkey, mixed up ethnic groups that were forced to resettle, Iran's nervousness about it's own restive Kurdish presense, the fight over who controls the fabulously rich Kirkuk oil field, even the close ties between the Kurds and Israelis.
Washington seems to be just standing around whistling with hands in pockets while the shit is about to hit the fan, sweatily hoping this contentious issue can be shelved. But it looks like it's inevitable and the only question is if it takes place before or after Turkish general elections on July 22. I have no doubt CIA spooks are all over the situation with covert intrigue but it has no good choices when it comes to an explosion in northern Iraq. Of course americans shouldn't have been in the thick of this ugly mess in the first place. My guess as to what the US will do? Since Turkey will be needed for the eventual war with Iran it will drop any pretense of support for the Kurds, screwing them over yet again like after the first Gulf Slaughter, thereby adding them to the forces determined to kick the occupiers out of Iraq.
As a matter of fact, is the US vacating the area for the Turks to have at them?
posted by nolocontendere at 8:58 PM
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