Posted by
animalgirl on Friday, October 12, 2007 10:35:46 AM
Turkey has authorized an attack on the Kurdish portion of Iraq.
Terrorist attacks have spiked dramatically in Turkey, largely because of weaponry related to the American occupation of Iraq (more Blackwater's weapons than our military's) are being smuggled across the border by our Kurdish allies to the PKK, a Kurdish nationalist terrorist organization that has been attacking the Turkish military and police officers.
Thoughts? This is a complicated situation, when an ally attacks a place we are occupying. Especially since I don't think we can really blame Turkey. Are they not allowed to defend themselves from terrorism like we do?
I personally think that we have to approach Turkey, hat in hand, apologize for the terrorism that has emanated from the Kurdish area of Iraq, and try to help them address this problem. We cannot permit them to simply attack the Kurds (and us). But we have to acknowledge their justification.
Whatever we do, this will make the Kurdish area of Iraq more troublesome. But the peace there was always a bit false; the fact is, the Kurds, while they are pro-American because we got Saddam, are a separatist group, and an extreme element among them is not going to be satisfied until there is a Kurdistan. Which would involve hacking up Turkey.
I wanted to know what others were thinking about this. I think it is by far the most important news story today, and I am surprised I have seen nothing about it on this site. I think it's because the conservative machine can't figure out how they can possibly spin this....