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| Iraq |
| Turks Add A Hurdle To U.S. War Plans |
| 2003-03-12 |
| Hardening their position, Turkey's leaders insist they need further assurances about post-war Iraq before they allow U.S. troops to deploy along the border for an attack. In a new complication, they also are refusing to let the Pentagon use Turkish airspace without approval from parliament. This just isn't going to work. "The United States and Turkey have reached an agreement, but the missing piece is a counterpart agreement between the United States and the Iraqi Kurds," he said. "Turkey says it wants assurances from Washington, but what would really help are assurances from the Iraqi Kurds." Bottom line is that most Turks oppose attacking Iraq and their new PM is not looking to spend any more political capital on an unpopular issue. |
| Posted by:JAB |
| #4 It's getting worse by the day. Now they're refusing their airspace too. This means that even airborne operations through Turkey are no longer possible. Is Turkey now an official member of the Axis of Evil ? |
| Posted by: Peter 2003-03-13 05:02:42 |
| #3 The Turks have served their purpose. The Iraqi army has been deploying and redeploying back and forth for the past 4 moths to the northern provinces, seeing how the Iraqi army doesnt believe in silly little things like basic maintenance on their heavy gear, Id have to assume they are all pretty worn out by now. I think we should give the 36 billion we were going to give to Turkey to Afghanistan and Hamid Karzai. The turks are free to vote as the please, but they are well advised to remember the famous American Phrase " Payback is a bitch" |
| Posted by: Frank Martin 2003-03-13 00:13:39 |
| #2 Rummy should simply explain to them what the consequences of a misguided M.O.A.B in downtown Istanbul. Aside from that, F the Turks. We do not need them. They will prove to be a bigger headache then they are worth! |
| Posted by: g wiz 2003-03-12 23:55:00 |
| #1 Where is Murat? He had a few good points. If we're going to try and push democracy in the region maybe it's better to been respecting the choices of the Turkish parliament. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-03-12 23:35:00 |