Okay, maybe I'm the only one worried about this whole thing, but it seems to me the Turks have been itching for years now to confront the Kurds in Northern Iraq. Sure, they say they are after the PKK rebels but to me, that's a smokescreen. The Turks conducted air raids the other day and instead of some objections from Iraq and the West, they basically heard nothing (some reports are that the U.S. opened up air space for the operation) so enboldened, now they send troops into Iraq some 1.5 miles.
If this troop movement of 1.5 miles receives the cricket treatment again, then loook for the Turks to send in wave after wave deeper into Kurd territory. Let's face it, the rebels weren't going to be sitting 500 feet inside the border, now were they?
My concern is this. If one, just one Kurd civilian gets killed in one of these operations, it is going to be a nightmare, and as for the U.S. , we better not take for granted the staunch support our troops have received in Iraq from the Kurds. It's time to tell Turkey to back off. And the time is NOW.
Full story is here from AP.
If this troop movement of 1.5 miles receives the cricket treatment again, then loook for the Turks to send in wave after wave deeper into Kurd territory. Let's face it, the rebels weren't going to be sitting 500 feet inside the border, now were they?
My concern is this. If one, just one Kurd civilian gets killed in one of these operations, it is going to be a nightmare, and as for the U.S. , we better not take for granted the staunch support our troops have received in Iraq from the Kurds. It's time to tell Turkey to back off. And the time is NOW.
Full story is here from AP.
Dec 18, 7:15 AM EST
Turkish Army Sends Soldiers Into Iraq
By YAHYA BARZANJI Associated Press Writer
KIRKUK, Iraq (AP) -- The Turkish army sent soldiers about 1.5 miles into northern Iraq in an overnight operation on Tuesday, Kurdish officials said. A Turkish official said the troops seeking Kurdish rebels were still in Iraq by midmorning.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an unannounced visit to Kirkuk, the hub of Iraq's northern oil fields.
The troops crossed into an area near the border with Iran, about 75 miles north of the city of Irbil, said Jabar Yawar, a spokesman for Kurdistan's Peshmerga security forces.
About 300 Turkish troops crossed the border at 3 a.m., said Jamal Abdullah, a spokesman for the regional Kurdistan government. He said the region was a deserted mountainous frontier area.
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad declined to comment on reports of the Turkish operation.
It was not clear how long the Turkish soldiers who entered Iraq on Tuesday would stay, but a Turkish government official said they were sent as "reinforcements" to existing Turkish troops stationed further inside Iraq.
"They are going there as reinforcements, they are not returning," the official said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
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