Trouble from Turkey?
As if we didn't already have enough problems in the Middle East, there are signs that Turkey is contemplating a military attack on Iraqi Kurdistan. Latest here, with links to earlier articles on the topic.
The US needs to stick up for the Iraqi Kurds. They supported us during the invasion of Iraq when Turkey tried to obstruct us; we owe them. And Iraqi Kurdistan is Iraq's biggest success story -- a place which governs itself and keeps the peace on its own territory with its own forces without needing our help, as we hope Iraq as a whole will eventually be able to do.
If PKK terrorists in Turkey are indeed getting support from points in Iraqi Kurdistan, then this is a serious problem and it needs to be stopped. But the US has leverage with the Iraqi Kurds to get that issue dealt with. I trust that stern warnings are being conveyed, even if not publicly, from Washington to Ankara: we will not stand by and do nothing if our friends are attacked.
The US needs to stick up for the Iraqi Kurds. They supported us during the invasion of Iraq when Turkey tried to obstruct us; we owe them. And Iraqi Kurdistan is Iraq's biggest success story -- a place which governs itself and keeps the peace on its own territory with its own forces without needing our help, as we hope Iraq as a whole will eventually be able to do.
If PKK terrorists in Turkey are indeed getting support from points in Iraqi Kurdistan, then this is a serious problem and it needs to be stopped. But the US has leverage with the Iraqi Kurds to get that issue dealt with. I trust that stern warnings are being conveyed, even if not publicly, from Washington to Ankara: we will not stand by and do nothing if our friends are attacked.
Labels: Military
posted by Infidel753 at 5:48 AM
3 Comments:
infidel my brother, glad to be regularly reading you again. Once was blind, but now I see.
I agree Turkey invading Iraq would make a disaterous situation far worse. Imagine if we had a chaotic nation on our border that regularly supported divisive groups here in the U.S.
Wait, never mind.
Welcome back on line, Your Exalted Purpleness. I saw earlier that your site has a couple of new postings up.
I actually consider that, in general, Turkey has been a force for good in its region. It is an ally of Israel. Its intervention in Cyprus in 1974 brought peace to that fractious country, peace that has stood for decades. Its offer of military support to Albania during the Kosovo conflict may have helped prevent a widening of the war.
But Iraqi Kurdistan is not persecuting minorities -- quite the opposite, as Totten's postings make clear. If there are elements there which support the PKK, then the US has considerable leverage to put a stop to it. If anything, undermining the stable Iraqi-Kurdish de facto state would risk bringing the chaos of the rest of Iraq right up to Turkey's border. I think the Turks are smart enough to understand that.
very well stated. This is a potential case of the U.S. using its political muscle for an enormous good. But of course, nothing will blow up (that's the point) and so we'll never see it reported in the MSM.
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