| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq |
| Turkey warns Kurds, Baghdad urges swift withdrawal |
| 2008-02-25 |
| CIZRE, Turkey - The Turkish army Sunday warned Iraqi Kurds not to shelter Kurdish rebels fleeing its military offensive in northern Iraq, as Baghdad labelled the incursion a ‘threat’ to its sovereignty. As fighting intensified, the army said it had killed another 33 militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), taking the rebel toll, according to Turkish figures, to 112 since the cross-border incursion began Thursday evening. PKK rebels ‘are trying to The warning raised the spectre of a potential confrontation with the autonomous region’s Kurdish-run administration, and just hours later Baghdad called for a swift Turkish withdrawal. A statement issued by the government of Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki urged Turkey ‘to withdraw its forces from Iraqi soil as soon possible’ and specifically described the operation as ‘a threat to Iraqi sovereignty.’ Previously, Baghdad had appeared to accept Turkey’s assertions that the offensive posed no threat to its territorial integrity. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #6 I just think there is a dangerous group think occuring regarding the invasion of Iraq by the Turks. Just like there was when everyone insisted that the Turkish military would step in at the last minute with the 4th ID. We got screwed then. I certainly hope the expert anaylsts who blew that last time are at least asking the question what if the Islamist tyrant Erdogan believes that he can work with Iran to get his hands on that oil in Northern Iraq. What if they don't simply kill the PKK forces and withdraw? And for those of you who pooh-pooh and say, "Of course they will", I would ask if you also insisted that the Turkish Miitary would step in and stop Erdogan from preventing the 4th ID from using Iraq? |
| Posted by: Crease Poodle1618 2008-02-25 22:30 |
| #5 Well, I don't agree. That's nice. Everyone should have an opinion. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-02-25 19:07 |
| #4 Well, I don't agree. Erdogan is a tyrant who should not be trusted. He is an Islamist who gobbles up more power every year that passes and fancies himself the head of the Caliphate. He has never been happy with the Kurds getting that oil. All that we are doing is making it easier for him to come and get it and he will as soon as the opportunity presents itself. I would imagine that Iran would be more than happy to divide up "Kurdistan" with the Turks in exchange for cooperation. All of you think he is our ally. I think he repeatedly shown that he would be happy to align himself with Iran in the quest to establish a global caliphate. How many times are we going to let this little piss-ant sucker us? |
| Posted by: Crease Poodle1618 2008-02-25 18:42 |
| #3 Not exactly a perfect analogy. MS-13 is Central American in origin, not not Mexican. And there is no one ethnic group with independent economic and military power tied to MS-13. However, it is reasonably accurate in that: a) the PKK does have significant support among the Iraqi Kurds, and b)at this point, given the political situation in Iraq, it would be counter-productive for either the US or the Iraqi government to go after the PKK. Glenmore has it nailed. The one viable option is Turkey dealing with the PKK. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-02-25 11:39 |
| #2 Crease, Since we WON'T kill MS-13 infiltrating the US I would have no problem with a 'behind the scenes' agreement to let Mexico come do it - not that they would either, but in your analogy, the Turks WILL. It's only a 'real' violation of sovereignty if the Iraqis and we 'really' don't want them there. I figure we and the Iraqi government wants the nest of vipers cleaned up but does not want to risk firing up broader internal conflict which might get out of control. Better to let the Turks do it and plausibly deny we have anything to do with it. As long as they leave when 'really' told to, I am ok with it. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2008-02-25 10:50 |
| #1 A statement issued by the government of Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki urged Turkey ‘to withdraw its forces from Iraqi soil as soon possible’ and specifically described the operation as ‘a threat to Iraqi sovereignty.’ At least someone has some common sense. The PKK may be bad, but as I will continue to say, we would not tolerate this action on our own borders, why would we expect the Kurds or Iraqi's to tolerate it on their own? Yes, I know the PKK are terrorists who deserve to die. So the are the M13 gang members in the US. We would not tolerate Mexico or Canada invading our borders with troops and tanks to get rid of M13 gang members who have murdered in their respective countries. Why should we expect the Iraqi's to tolerate this? Is it because we think that we are better than them? Little brown folk need help? I don't think so, and no one else should either. This is an outrageous violation of Iraqi sovereignty. We've spent our own blood to liberate Iraq and make it free. We need to stop this invasion NOW! |
| Posted by: Crease Poodle1618 2008-02-25 08:00 |