Iraq Invasion Imminent, yes I said IRAQ

[LoungeMachine]

Turkey Readies for Cross-Border Operation Against Kurds

Tuesday, October 09, 2007


ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey said Tuesday it had given instructions to prepare for a possible cross-border military operation into Iraq to chase separatist Kurdish rebels.

"Institutions concerned have been given the necessary orders and instructions to make all kinds of legal, economic and political preparations to end the presence of the terror organization in a neighboring country in the upcoming period, including if necessary a cross-border operation," said a statement released at the end of a high-level security meeting chaired by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The meeting between Erdogan, his ministers and top officials in charge of security came as Turkey's military pressed ahead with a major offensive — backed by airpower — to crack down on separatist Kurdish rebels in areas close to the border with Iraq.

Kurdish rebels have killed 15 soldiers in separate attacks in the past two days, increasing anger in the country over the insurgents' ability to find refuge in neighboring Iraq.

The military said Sunday it shelled an area near Iraq to try to stop rebels from escaping across the border.

Turkey has been pressuring Iraq and the United States to clamp down on the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq, and has considered a military operation across the border to stamp out the guerrillas.

[EAT MY ASSHOLE]

Further proof that we need to be there.

MORE THAN EVER.

[LoungeMachine]

:rolleyes:

[Nickdfresh]

The Iraqi Kurds are probably aware of, and on-board with, this...

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by EAT MY ASSHOLE
Further proof that we need to be there.

MORE THAN EVER.

Withdraw from Iraq, and put all remaining troops in the Northern Kurdish region? Fucken aye! I'll go along with that.

[Hardrock69]

Originally posted by EAT MY ASSHOLE
Further proof that we need to be there.

MORE THAN EVER.

Why?

Why not just let them kill each other off?

We do NOT need to be there.

We got rid of Saddamite.

Mission accomplished.

His neck got stretched.

We are done.

Chimpy is only interested in 2 things. Murdering our own troops by keeping them over there, and OIL.

We should have left that fucked up country a long time ago.

[Ellyllions]

We're gonna hafta pull out. It's inevitable.

After all this time, new problems just keep popping up that are out of our control and stretch of our foreign policy (or lack thereof).

That's partly why I haven't been paying much attention to the debates. I know as soon as someone starts talking about Iraq one of two things is going to come out of their mouths:
a) We should pull out
(calling Captain Obvious)

b) We should stay the course
(political pandering at it's finest)

Pulling out is our only option and I wish they'd just drop their shoulders and say so. All of them. Because there is no "win" here.

I hate it for the soldiers who still believe because they're really gung-ho about doing something that they honestly believe in. But it is what it is. They can blame their war strategists for beginning this whole thing with a terminally flawed plan, and no "out".

[kentuckyklira]

Originally posted by EAT MY ASSHOLE
Further proof that we need to be there.

MORE THAN EVER.

Why,

because your pals the Kurds are harboring people your pals the Turks consider terrorists??

Or, do you know something nobody else does??

:confused: :confused:

[Warham]

"Pull out, pull out!"

[LoungeMachine]

If only George HW Bush had......

:gulp:

[Nickdfresh]

The Turks have tanks on the border now...

[LoungeMachine]

FROM THE WALL STREET
JOURNAL
Turkey Bombs Positions
Of Suspected Kurdish Rebels
Associated Press
October 10, 2007 1:13 p.m.

SIRNAK, Turkey -- Turkish warplanes bombed positions of suspected Kurdish rebels Wednesday, and the prime minister said preparations for parliamentary approval of a military mission against separatist fighters in Iraq were under way.

Turkish troops blocked rebel escape routes into Iraq while F-16 and F-14 warplanes and Cobra helicopters dropped bombs on possible hideouts, the Dogan news agency reported. The military had dispatched tanks to the region to support the operation against the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, in response to more than a week of deadly attacks in southeastern Turkey.

Turkish authorities also detained 20 suspected Kurdish rebels at a border crossing with Iraq, the office for the governor of Sirnak said in a statement.

The military activity followed attacks by PKK rebels that has killed 15 soldiers since Sunday and prompted Turkey's government to push for a possible cross-border offensive against separatist bases in Iraq. Turkish Kurd rebels have been fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that preparations for a parliamentary authorization for a cross-border mission were under way, but didn't say when the motion would reach the floor. A member of the governing Justice and Development Party said a request for parliamentary approval for a cross-border ground offensive was unlikely to come to the floor before the end of a four-day religious holiday on Sunday.

On Wednesday, an opposition nationalist party that has long been advocating an incursion into Iraq called on the government to swiftly take the motion to parliament and said it would back it.

If Parliament approves, the military could choose to immediately launch an operation or wait to see if the United States and its allies, jolted by the Turkish action, decide to crack down on the rebels.

A cross-border operation could hurt Turkey's relationship with the U.S., which opposes Turkish intervention in northern Iraq, a region that has escaped the violence afflicting much of the rest of the country. Turkey and the U.S. are NATO allies, but ties have also been tense over a congressional bill that would label the mass killings of Armenians by Turks around the time of World War I as genocide. President Bush has strongly urged Congress to reject the bill, saying it would do "great harm" to U.S.-Turkish relations.

Turkish troops targeting the guerrillas suspected escape routes in mountainous areas in Sirnak province have "squeezed" a group of about 80 rebels on Mount Gabar, in Sirnak, the Hurriyet newspaper reported. Escape routes were being bombed by helicopter gunships while transport helicopters were airlifting special commando units to strategic points.

Turkish troops were also shelling suspected PKK camps in the regions of Kanimasa, Nazdur and Sinath, in northern Iraq, from positions in Turkey's Hakkari province, just across the border, Hurriyet reported. Tanks were positioned near the town of Silopi, in Sirnak province, the paper said.

The paper said the government would impose an information blackout on its preparations for a possible cross-border offensive.

[Warham]

Here goes World War III. No, wait a minute, that was the Cold War. OK, it's IV. No, no, that's the War on Terror. World War V, perhaps?

Sounds like a Stallone movie marathon.

[NATEDOG001976]

Nuke!

[NATEDOG001976]

I really hope the Turks stay out of this mess.

[Nickdfresh]

Uh oh... :confused:

Kurd rebels kill 12 Turkish troops
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan calls emergency meeting
DEVELOPING STORY
Reuters
Updated: 10:03 a.m. ET Oct 21, 2007

TUNCELI, Turkey - Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan called crisis talks that may authorize a cross-border military offensive after Kurdish rebels killed at least 12 Turkish soldiers in an ambush on Sunday near the Iraqi border.

The attack, one of the worst in more than a decade by rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), came four days after the Ankara parliament backed a motion allowing troops to enter northern Iraq to fight guerrillas hiding there.

“We are very angry... Our parliament has granted us the authority to act and within this framework we will do whatever has to be done,� Erdogan said at an Istanbul polling station after voting in Sunday’s referendum on constitutional changes.

Erdogan said military and government officials would meet at 8 pm (1 p.m. EDT) under the chairmanship of President Abdullah Gul at the presidential palace to decide how Turkey should respond.

Turkey’s military general staff said 12 soldiers and 23 rebels were killed in Sunday’s clashes. Security sources had said earlier at least 13 Turkish soldiers had been killed.

In another incident on Sunday, a landmine killed one civilian and wounded at least 13 more in a minibus traveling near to where the soldiers were killed.

The United States, Turkey’s NATO ally, and the Baghdad government have urged Ankara to refrain from military action, fearing this could destabilize the most peaceful part of Iraq and possibly the wider region.

Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani said on Sunday his autonomous region would defend itself if Turkish troops launched a cross-border incursion.

“We are not going to be caught up in the PKK and Turkish war, but if Kurdistan region is targeted, then we are going to defend our citizens,� Barzani told reporters after meeting Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who is also a Kurd.

In Arbil, Iraq, a Kurdish military official said the Turkish military had fired artillery shells into about 11 areas along the border in Iraq early on Sunday. There were no casualties.

Anger
The PKK attack, which wounded up to 16 people, occurred in Hakkari province in the mountainous border area early on Sunday.

The pro-PKK Firat news agency said the rebels had taken �many hostages� among the Turkish troops. The report could not be independently confirmed.

Turkey has deployed as many as 100,000 troops along the border to try to stop the PKK rebels crossing from Iraqi bases to stage attacks inside Turkey.

Erdogan’s government is under pressure from public opinion and the powerful military to take action against the PKK following a series of deadly attacks on Turkish security forces.

The death toll among Turkish troops and security personnel has reached around 40 in the past month alone.

“A cross-border operation must now definitely be carried out,� said Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), in comment typical of opposition parties’ reaction.

Parliament’s authorization for cross-border operations is valid for one year. Erdogan has previously signaled military operations are not imminent and Western diplomats in Ankara say Turkey is not keen to send troops into Iraq because of the security and economic risks.

“We cannot expect Turkey to remain silent in the face of attacks like these,� Murat Yetkin, a commentator for the liberal Radikal daily told NTV television.

“This attack, coming on a day when Turkey votes in a referendum, is a very clear provocation. It shows the PKK is not interested in democratic initiatives,� Yetkin said.

Sunday’s referendum will decide whether Turkey’s future presidents will be elected directly by the people instead of by parliament, as well as on other changes.

Turkey’s tougher stance has helped propel global oil prices to record highs over the past week. Pipelines carrying Iraqi and Caspian crude cross Turkey.

Ankara blames the PKK for the deaths of more than 30,000 people since the group launched its armed campaign for an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984. The United States and European Union class the PKK as a terrorist organization.
Copyright 2007 Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Link (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21399932/)