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The US press has consistently bad mouthed Turkey for as long as I can remember.

The US has allowed the Kurdish terror organization, the PKK, to organize on American soil up to a few days after 9/11.

The PKK was conducting a propaganda campaign from a tent across from the Turkish embassy in DC for over a year.

The US congress has blocked helicopter sales to Turkey claiming that Turkey would use those against her civilian population.

When NATO contribution to the Turkish military fell below 30 million dollars a year about 10 years ago, the Turkish administration said: "You know what? Just keep it."

There was a governor who in a speach praised Ataturk, but had to apologize later because of pressure from the Greek and Armenian diaspora in the US.

Your external affairs vs Turkey have been hijacked by said diaspora. No matter what their claims regarding the past, where US national security is concerned, cool heads must prevail.

This has been going on for ever.

When Murad Topalian was busted in Cleveland with explosives and weapons he kept in storage, and when it was further discovered that he was complicit in the Turkish consulate bombing in NYC, where Americans were also hurt, he received 2.5 years in low security jail.......

The Turkish Consulate in NYC has been encircled with freeway dividers.. Why is that?

The trouble here runs deep. Very deep.

It reminds me of Ottoman history, where the state had been hijacked by beurocrat operatives on external payrolls. It ended in a disaster.

There was an interesting resignation letter from a career State Department guy printed in the New York Times, to cause maximum embarassment. He happened to be stationed at the Greek Embassy, and was griping that Powell was too loyal to the President. Your discussion reminds me of that.

If one good thing comes from this mess, it will be that Americans need to pay more attention to foreign affairs, day in and out, and not leave it in the hands of the career diplomats and the politicians.

First we hear rumors that Bush is furious that the CIA did not coordinate the anti forces on the ground in Iraq. Now we hear that the State Department totally went against political practices and left Turkey out of the planning group brining in other outside forces.

I feel we are seeing more of the forces we are now working against in play - the liberals seeking to undercut Bush on any possible front and prevent his re-election, the anti-war groups that don't want funds spent on war, and the duplicity of France, Germany and Russia over their under-the-table dealings with Iraq.

Time for Bush to pull the plug on them. Back off and deal with only the departments that are trustworthy. Cut off the State Department. Powell got us into this mess with the U.N. greatly damaging our world image and hindering the protection of Americans. He then fails to monitor the negotiations of his own department resulting in possible harm to our troops.

There should be high level meetings in the White House over this nonsense.

Another thing - there should never have been ships sitting out there waiting on a decision by Turkey. This should have been resolved long ago. Yet, it appears the forces at play want to embarrass Bush and make America look like fools.