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As nice as it would be to round up and execute everyone suspected of cooperating with terrorists, such as those who might be fund-raising for them, the United States is still a democracy and not a police-state. People actually have to break our laws before they get jailed.

Not eveything that is morally wrong is illegal here. That is one of the many reasons why people prefer to live in the United States rather than where they were born. Democracy and liberty have inherent problems, but they are preferable to the problems of other forms of government. And we are a nation of laws, not political whimsy (though it seems that way at times).

PKK isn't the only group that has been able to fund-raise for terrorists here. Hamas, IRA, and others have been able to do so. Once most people find out about what they are really up to they stop sending money. Only recently have we gotten smart enough as a political body to make that type of fund-raising illegal (remember, most of these groups front themselves as charities).

As for you, you seem to take the position that two wrongs make a right. That Turkey should not be obligated to do the right thing just because they felt wronged. And if it were that simple, I might be more forgiving. But we all know that it wasn't about that. Turkey held us up for money. It was extortion plain and simple. Because of it, innocent people are dying in Iraq, including Turks. But I'm sure they'll find a way to blame it on us.

After all, blaming the U.S. these days has become an international pass-time. And it's certainly easier than looking at home for the root causes of the problem.

Do you really thing the PKK would have ceased to exist if it had not raised money here? How much did it raise elsewhere? It doesn't take a lot of money to make bomb and use it to blow up school. i suspect it would have happened whether they raised money here or not.

But then that's why I don't give money to very many charities (only local church groups). Most of them misuse the money they are given. But, until being stupid is made a crime in the U.S., stupid people will give money to other stupid people to do stupid or evil things.

The bottom line is that a stable, free and democratic Iraq is in Turkey's best interest, and your country's refusal to cooperate with us has been an obstacle to that. If the experiment fails, we can always go home and leave Turkey to deal with the mess it helped create on its own border--a fact they ought to consider carefully (Kerry has all but vowed to do just that and the failure of the Turks to help us is being used by his campaign as a reason he should be elected over Bush). Turkey's actions (or lack thereof) in this conflict have done more to encourage groups like PKK than anything we have done. Those actions also encourage the appeasers here in the U.S.

To use an old phrase, Turkey has cut off it's nose to spite it's face.

If turkish truck drivers and others allow themselves to be scared off the job, look for PKK to go on the attack in your own country. It's all connected.