Breaking: Thousands of Turkish troops enter Iraq

[Perky]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TURKEY_IRAQ?SITE=CATOR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-06-06-12-07-17

Turkish Officials: Troops Enter Iraq

By SELCAN HACAOGLU
Associated Press Writer

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Several thousand Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq early Wednesday to chase Kurdish guerrillas who operate from bases there, Turkish security officials told The Associated Press.

Two senior security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the raid was limited in scope and that it did not constitute the kind of large incursion that Turkish leaders have been discussing in recent weeks.

"It is not a major offensive and the number of troops is not in the tens of thousands," one of the officials told the AP by telephone. The official is based in southeast Turkey, where the military has been battling separatist Kurdish rebels since they took up arms in 1984.

The U.S. military said it could not confirm the reports but was "very concerned."

[WiseButAngrySara]

1. Was just reading about this. CNN and Yahoo news also reported.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1053536

[Perky]

2. Watch al-maliki send troops to the region to secure their borders

can you say "flash point"

[originalpckelly]

3. Oh my God.

[On the Road]

4. Not in the TENS of Thousands?

So Turkey just sent *thousands* of troops over the border against our Kurdish allies with the acquiescence of the US? Is this our third betrayal of the Kurds?

[Perky]

5. Either we acquiesced

Or the CIA blew this big time. Either way.......This might be the straw that breaks the Back of any support Bush has in the Senate.

If thing heat up and Iraq and Turkey start shoorung at one another. It will seriously undermine Al-maliki in the parliament . I think he heas to send trops. but if he does then that leaves who to fight the insuregents.in Baghdad. gee.... this is going to get nutty in a hero.

[Kagemusha]

6. Where do you get the idea this was with US approval?

I highly doubt that. Frankly the US is already denying there was any such incursion and Turkey is saying it can't confirm such an incursion (meaning if anything did happen, they don't know the size and it was on the authority of on-the-scene commanders, perhaps - if it happened at all - hot pursuit after an attack.)

But for all the Kurd Betrayal Watch stuff, I don't understand why people jump to the instant conclusion that this is with US approval when the US has been loudly telling Turkey to not do this, that the US will take care of everything (mind you, no one believes the US on that point, at all) and so on...

[Perky]

7. Tacit approval of this would be pretty stupid.

[On the Road]

8. Have You Heard Any US Objections or Actions?

If not, it is being done with US acquiescence, regardless of whether Bush personally likes or approves of the incursion.

It's a breaking story, so maybe the White House is preparing a response and Bush will come back with something. But I'm not holding my breath.

The Turks do have a point with Kurdish separatists, but incursions across internation borders are a big thing.

[Kagemusha]

13. No, I'm going by the last dozen US objections to rumblings of such actions.

Maybe that's not good enough for you without a fresh US objection. Well so be it...

[alfredo]

14. The objections might be for bush's domestic audience. Behind

closed doors could be something different.

Turkey does have the right to defend itself. That's something for me to say because I am part Armenian.

[On the Road]

16. I am Sure Bush Would Prefer the Turks Didn't Do This

I'm not even saying that they gave explicit or impled approval.

But if there is no meaningful action other than rhetoric, it is happening with US acquiescence.

[Kagemusha]

17. Guess we'll see within a short time either way.

Sorry if I read the word acquiescence as being implied approval in and of itself. Perhaps I'm mistaken about that. Either way, sure, I'd REALLY love to know what the US is going to actually do about it, verbally or otherwise...

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. There go our quasi-allies.

I wonder whose side they're on today?

[Skidmore]

10. So we don't have to wait for a Democratic Party president to be in power

for a regional war to begin. Guess we should start correcting the RW warmongers on this canard, and soon.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

11. Um,...shit,...

I'm confused.

If this isn't done per USA approval, we're looking at something ugly going down.
If this IS done per USA approval, we're looking at something ugly going down.

shit

[shadowknows69]

12. Yeah what he said...Shit!

Fucked if we knew fucked if we didn't.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

19. If the PNACers failed to anticipate this,...they MUST be masturbating!!!!

They want 'all-out war' SO BADLY!!!

makes me sick,...and sad,....

[Jillian]

15. OMG - things are just going to continue to get out of hand there.

This is horrible news.

[mod mom]

18. TPM: What Spurred the Turkish Move in Iraqi Kurdistan?

What Spurred the Turkish Move into Iraqi Kurdistan?

By Spencer Ackerman - June 6, 2007, 1:00 PM

Reports are extremely murky right now, but it appears that the Turkish Army has crossed the Iraqi border into the autonomous region of Kurdistan. While the AP reports that "thousands" of Turkish troops deployed into Kurdistan, an anonymous Turkish official insisted to Reuters that the move "cannot be called a cross-border operation, it is a limited operation."

Whatever's happening, tensions have been at a boil for the last week, as the Turks have made noises about taking military action after a June 1 incident in which Kurdish forces in the city of Sulaymaniya allegedly harassed plainclothes Turkish soldiers. The next day, however, the U.S. military command turned over formal control of security to the Kurdistan Regional Government. The KRG was largely responsible for security before -- as I learned on a 2006 trip to Kurdistan, there were very few U.S. troops in the comparatively placed region even before Saturday's formal handover -- but the handover put U.S. forces firmly in a supporting role:

Coalition forces will resume their role in the region as support when needed.
“It is important to understand that Coalition forces will always be here to support the Government of Iraq,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Kurt A. Cichowski, deputy chief of staff, strategy, plans and assessment for MNF-I.
While Coalition forces support the KRG, they have also contributed $436 million during the war for reconstruction efforts in the area.
“Today’s event is symbolic because the people of these provinces have been taking the lead and demonstrating progress for quite some time,” said Mixon.


It's by no means clear what, if any, effect the handover had on Turkish decision-making. But it may be that the Turkish general staff, which has been acutely concerned with terrorism against Turks by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), interpreted the move as a sign that the U.S. was scaling down its commitment in the Kurdish north of Iraq. At the very least, invading Turkish forces wouldn't face a U.S. military command charged with holding and defending the area.

-snip

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003365.php

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

20. .

[ContraBass Black]

21. Oh, here we fucking go.

Which side is the US on in this one?