Article

2007-10-17 Iraq

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Posted by anonymous5089 2007-10-17 10:37|| || Front Page|| [6 views ] Top

#1 Kurds await TOWs and Javelins.

Posted by ed 2007-10-17 11:38|| 2007-10-17 11:38|| Front Page Top

#2 from the BBC:

Turkey's parliament has given permission for the government to launch military operations into Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish rebels.
The vote was taken in defiance of pressure from the US and Iraq, which have called on Turkey for restraint.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the motion does not mean a military operation is imminent.

But he said Turkey needed to be able to respond to a recent rise in bomb attacks blamed on PKK rebels from Iraq.

Turkish MPs backed him overwhelmingly, by 507 votes to 19.

As the vote was being counted, President George W Bush strongly urged America's Turkish ally not to carry out the threatened action.

He said Washington was "making it clear to Turkey it is not in their interest to send more troops in... there is a better way to deal with the issue".

Click to view a detailed map of the border region

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Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki had earlier phoned the Turkish prime minister, saying he was "absolutely determined" to remove the PKK from Iraq and pleading for more time, according to Turkey's Anatolia news agency.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, an ethnic Kurd, urged Turkey not to make an incursion, but also called on the PKK "to end the so-called military activity".

The autonomous Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq warned Turkish MPs that any intervention would be "illegal". It has denied providing the PKK with any help.

The rebels themselves said they would meet force with force.

The chief of the PKK's executive council, Murat Karayilan, told the Kurdish Hawlati newspaper: "Thousands of PKK guerrillas are on standby to fight Turkish army forces."

Posted by Unutle McGurque8861 2007-10-17 12:00|| 2007-10-17 12:00|| Front Page Top

#3 The Turks may regret this.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2007-10-17 12:52|| 2007-10-17 12:52|| Front Page Top

#4 There are some Kurdish groups in northern Iraq who are conducting activities which easily meet our definition of (Islamic) terrorism against Turkey - and Iran. We would really rather they did not do so against Turkey. But we don't have the political or physical resources to act against those Kurds. My guess is both we and the Iraqi government have quietly decided to let Turkey move against some of the Kurdish terrorists, as long as they are 'in pursuit' and keep the intrusion both brief and accurate. Then we'll make lots of loud, offended talk and do nothing.
At the same time, we may well have some CIA or SpecOps guys working among those Kurdish 'terrorists', but without much ability to force specific activities. Perhaps a couple of Turkish 'shows of force' against their groups will help our operators to nudge them toward moves against Iran instead of Turkey. Then if IRAN decides to invade Iraq to counterattack them we might use that as a degree of justification to whack a nuke plant or two.

Posted by Glenmore">Glenmore 2007-10-17 18:40|| 2007-10-17 18:40|| Front Page Top

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