Did John Kerry and Hillary Clinton actually go to Turkey to persuade the Turkish government to double-cross the US? I know that we were planning to invade Iraq from the north until the Turks at the last minute refused to let us use their territory, but I guess I thought it was someone else, maybe the French, who got them to change their minds.
I am finding references to the Democrat visit to Turkey hard to find. While I may be mistaken, I remember a news reoprt on Democrats going and wondering what was up, thinking them duplicitous at the time.
I do find the complaints about US-Turkish relations & negotiations:
The delegation will be headed by Democrat Party deputy Robert Wexler and comprised of Republican Party deputy Kay Granger, Democrat Party deputy Jim Moran, Republican Party deputy Cliff Stearns and Tom Tancredo.
The congress members are expected to meet with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Parliament Speaker Omer Izgi, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, Foreign Minister Ismail Cem and other high-level officials during their visit between February 16-22.
The U.S. parliamentarians will focus on the fight against terrorism and improvement of bilateral relations, particularly in defense and energy and take up Afghanistan, Turkish-Israeli relations, Iraq, Middle East, Balkans, Central Asia and Caucasus.
The delegation is also foreseen to hold contacts related with the Turkish- U.S. Economic Partnership Commission meeting scheduled to be held in Ankara between February 26-27.”
http://www.hri.org/news/turkey/anadolu/2002/02-02-15.anadolu.html
Also, Fedora has done some heavy lifting on Kerry...
“John Kerry vs. the War on Terror: Candidate Kerry’s Subversive Campaign
Original FReeper research | 11/01/2004 | Fedora
Posted on Monday, November 01, 2004 11:27:09 AM by Fedora”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1264816/posts
On Wednesday, Reps. David Bonior, D-Mich., and Jim McDermott, D-Wash.— who were joined by Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., on the trip — held a press conference to further their argument that the United States should allow more time for international diplomacy rather than rushing off to war.”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,64657,00.html
“04 January 2002
Transcript: Press Briefing with Senators Lieberman, McCain in Turkey”
http://www.usembassy.it/file2002_01/alia/a2010404.htm
(By the way, Cem has since died)
Of course, I could just be wrong.
forgot to ping you. Apologies.