[processing please hold]

They may be a serious military, but we won't and can't play a war of attrition with them. If they are talking like this, I tend to take it a bit seriously. They appear to actually be daring us to stop them should they try.

Very dangerous games for the Turks.

[misusu21]

America does this all the time. Its just saber rattling, if they invade the protectorate with out our permission, they can kiss our friendship goodbye.

[jpsb]

Well the Turkey used to be the Ottomans. They are fighters and know how to win a war.

The fact is the USA is on very shaky ground in the middle east. We have a small force on the ground with a huge area to occupy. Turkey has a vital interest in preventing the Kurds from establishing a state, since there are lots of Kurds in Turkey that would secede in a heart beat to join a Kurdistan. Also Turkey has been moving away from a secular state towards a populist Islamic state. Could be, Turkey thinks it could win, regain it lost Ottoman glory and become the Islamic super state. Stranger things have happened, could be UE (France, Germany) see an opportunity to knock the USA down a peg or too and gain influence with the new Islamic super state. All that needs to happen is too defeat the USA forces on the ground while preventing a general war. Should the UE get the UK on board (hard to imagine that) then our supply lines would just to too damn long.

I am just an arm chair general, but I can see the Turks and maybe some Euro's giving this scenario some serious consideration. (Might even have been the plan should Kerry have won). If the game should begin, the out come will depend on the US public's willingness to fight a general war in the middle east. A war that would mean a full mobilization and a draft. Turkey could very well be willing to take the risk. The reward is huge and the risk is 50/50.