[Wiz]

In the eyes of Kurds, it seems to be no more a matter of PKK, but an invasion against Kurdish region, and a threat against a democracy of Iraq. We may be forced into the position to be allied with the Kurds or the Turks. We are likely going to be seeing Kurdish Peshmerga, our allies, fighting Turkey's military for a possible invasion. Turkey striked a village recently with motar rounds? Is that a war against terrorism, indiscriminately attacking a village with a lot of civilians at risk? Even our troops are aware and do the best to avoid civilian deaths.

[DB]

We are obligated to keep the Turks out of Iraq.

We are also obligated to try to prevent Iraqi terrorist from attacking Turks in Turkey.

Just perhaps if the Turks had joined us early on instead interfering at every opportunity we’d both be in a better position to deal with the PKK now.

All this claptrap that this is all due to the Iraq war is BS. The PKK/Turkey thing has been going on for at least 20 years. Long before we got involved with Iraq.

[Straight Vermonter]

The Kurds are behaving like fools. They should be working with the Turks to wipe out this PKK filth that is giving all Kurds a bad name.

[DoughtyOne]

It seems to me that some Kurds are playing fast and loose with the facts in the very northern part of Iraq on the border with Turkey.  My take on this is that the PKK has set up camp in the mountains.  This comment seems to confirm it.  And I might add, are we sure the people they are talking to in the north aren't actually PKK members denying any presense of PKK loyalists?

Mohsin insisted there are no PKK camps in the Amadiya area.  But he also said dozens or hundreds (that nails it down rather well) of villages near the border had been evacuated and burned during Saddam Hussein campaign against Kurds and most remained empty. The Kurdish regional government has no control over this "no man's land," he said.  The area consists of range after range of arid mountains topped by sawtooth rocks, towering over narrow, twisting river valleys. "A million men could hide in those mountains," Mohsin said.

This doesn't sound like a definitive denial that PKK could exist in the mountains.

The peaceful Kurds should take a stand here before this escalates out of control.  They seem to be pushing Turkey into some form of military action hoping the U.S. will bail them out.

I hope the U.S. tells them to behave or risk destruction.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

Officials in Iraq's Kurdish region say there are no PKK bases, at least in populated areas under government control.

Not all Iraqi territory along the border is "under government control." To wit,

From a recent Telegraph article. The Telegraph employee reports as he nears the border:

"While Kashan residents denied that there was a PKK presence in the area, as Turkey alleges, there were no men of working age to be seen during The Daily Telegraph's visit. At the last Kurdish army checkpoint several miles south, the commander gave us an explicit warning that we travelled on at our own risk. 'From here on is PKK territory,' he said. 'We don't go in there much, so I can't guarantee your safety.'. . .Turkey has steadily increased pressure on Washington for American troop action against the group. But the US forces in Iraq claim their hands are tied, having passed responsibility for security in the Kurdish region to local commanders."

It's still Iraqi territory and if they ain't going to handle it I guess Turkey will have to do it. It won't be the first time.

The posted article confirms the "no man's" land:

The Kurdistan government has no control over this "no man's land," he said, which consists of range after range of arid mountains topped by sawtooth rocks, towering over narrow, twisting river valleys. "A million men could hide in those mountains," he said.

RE: "Turkey striked a village recently with motar rounds? Is that a war against terrorism, indiscriminately attacking a village with a lot of civilians at risk? Even our troops are aware and do the best to avoid civilian deaths."

Another source for this article says: "Residents of some the villages being shelled said they thought the Turkish military was deliberately trying to avoid hitting civilian targets. But some Kurdish officials said that the Turkish military were deliberately striking civilian areas. 'They are hitting populated areas,' said Mohsin, the Kurdistan Democratic Party official and a former Peshmerga commander."

The facts appear to be in dispute. BTW, Turkey has done this several times in the past with the full knowledge of the Kurds.

Yes, Turkey is very concerned about the eventual independence of the Kurds and the possibility that the Kurds will stir up trouble in Turkey. But that is a separate issue. The issue now is the Marxist PKK terrorists!

[MEGoody]

I’m sick of these guys. Pull our men out and turned the Middle East into a sea of glass.