Free Republic

ANKARA, Turkey - Top Iraqi Kurdish leaders arrived for talks with Turkish and U.S. officials Sunday on Turkey's plan to send troops into northern Iraq (news - web sites) in the event of a U.S.-led war. With U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites) declaring at a summit in the Azores that Monday would be a "moment of truth" on Iraq, Washington has urged Turkey not to unilaterally send its forces across the border if the United States attacks. Kurdish officials warn a Turkish incursion could lead to clashes with their forces in northern Iraq, while U.S. officials...

ARBIL, Iraq, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Iraq's Turcoman ethnic minority, whose protection Turkey often cites as a key reason for sending troops into northern Iraq, urged Turkey on Saturday to keep out, saying such a move would be "baseless". With a U.S.-led attack on Iraq to force out President Saddam Hussein an increasing possibility, Turkey has already sent some troops to the self-governed Kurdish territory in northern Iraq. Turkey has a large Kurdish minority near the Iraqi border, and is keen to establish a buffer zone to prevent any calls for the establishment of a separate Kurdish state in post-Saddam...

As Washington finally begins its long-awaited debate over war with Iraq, skeptics are having a field day with all the potential obstacles to an American march to Baghdad: international opposition; the difficulty of targeting Saddam's diffuse chemical and biological weapons; the fear that he might use them; the potential for American casualties. But there's one potential problem that so far has slipped under the radar screen: the little-known city of Kirkuk. The oil-rich town, which lies just south of the Kurdish safe haven established at the end of the Gulf war and 150 miles due north of Baghdad, has long...