U.S. Takes Back Turkey Aid Package

The Washington Post ^ | Saturday, March 15, 2003 | JENNIFER LOVEN

[ACHerbst]

As U.S. hopes dwindled of going through Turkey for an attack on Iraq, the Bush administration took back its offer to give $15 billion in aid to Turkey in exchange for military cooperation, officials said Saturday. U.S. commanders have been eager to use the NATO ally to open a northern front in any invasion of Iraq. Staging in Turkey would allow more U.S. troops and heavier equipment to push toward Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. The two countries had negotiated a package of U.S. grants and loans aimed at boosting Turkey's ailing economy, which is expected to suffer even more if there is war. Earlier this month, Turkey's parliament - mindful of polls showing a vast majority of the public opposed war - rejected a government motion to authorize the deployment of 62,000 American troops on Turkish soil. Turkey has since delayed a final decision, and the new prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Saturday a second vote was at least another week off. Now, the $15 billion is off the table, said two senior U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity. Nonetheless, Pentagon officials said Saturday there are no immediate plans to move any more U.S. military forces or equipment away from Turkey...

[Coroner]

Good, they can go back to the turd world, where they belong!!

[evolved_rage]

That'll teach them to haggle over bribe money.

[2timothy3.16]

please, please learn to use paragraph breaks.

[illumini]

THANK YOU GWB!

[teletech]

Its about damn time! Sounds like we haven't taken it all away yet. We need to pull ALL our troops and stop ALL aid dollars to Turkey!

[Bonaparte]

Don't worry, Turkey, there's always the EU. I'm sure Chirac and Schroeder will welcome ya'll to their socialist ghetto.

[AMNZ]

Ooops, Turkey missed the "Iraqi Independence Express"!! Won't be recognized in the rebuilding process. Whoo, Whoo!

[NewRomeTacitus]

Somehow I don't see Bush allowing the Jurk's continued repression of the Kurds. The horrors endured by this ethnic faction was never mentioned during the so-called "peace rally" held in Washington, D.C. today. Seems that when it comes to real-world problem solving it's always up to conservatives to clean up the mess so the Leftists can continue living in their fantasies of some Communist utopia. Oops, I meant Turks.

[veronica]

Pass the turkey and hold the gravy...;)

[Capriole]

Sorry, gang, you had your chance and you blew it. Y'all must be feeling really, really cocky to kiss $15 billion goodbye.

[dc-zoo]

Looks like turkey has effectively sh!t in its nest.

[ChadGore]

That's 12 Billion saved, where's my tax cut ?

[paul51]

Good. Better leave some of the force offshore. Before it's over we may have to attack turkey from the north.

[ACHerbst]

Sorry about that!

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

I wouldn't be surprised if their government falls because of this. Their economy is already in shambles, and they needed that money bigtime. C'est la vie!

[Pragmatist]

Let's not get too down on Turkey. Turkey has to live next to Iraq, and they are concerned about what we're going to do in their neighborhood. After the last gulf war, over a million refugees flooded into Turkey from Iraq, costing Turkey billions to deal with them. Turkey is not out of line to ask for money to deal with the problems that may come from our assault on Iraq.

Most likely, in my opinion, Turkey refused access to our troops because Turkey intends to grab northern Iraq when we move in from the south. We won't be able to stop them in time if our troops are not in Turkey. They will do this to quell the Kurds who have caused the Turks innumerable problems in the past, to take back Turkish territory seized by Britain after WWI, and to grab oil wells. The Turks have not denied that they may go into Iraq themselves.

Turkey has been a reliable ally since the Korean conflict, and I can tell you from having been in Turkey that the Turks are fundamentally friendly to America. The Turks aren't slapping us in the face, they are simply covering their butts and making sure that a hostile Kurdish nation doesn't appear and start agitating to break off southeastern Turkey.

Additionally, we don't need Turkey's airspace or land to beat the tar out of the ragheads in Iraq. This coming war will take about one or two days at the most, with most of the work figuring out what to do with all the prisoners.

Pragmatist

[Centurion2000]

That's gonna leave a mark on the Turkish stock market come Monday.

[Jhoffa_]

Please, insert paragraph tags in your posts..

[Centurion2000]

Most likely, in my opinion, Turkey refused access to our troops because Turkey intends to grab northern Iraq when we move in from the south. We won't be able to stop them in time if our troops are not in Turkey.

Not a problem to be polite to the Turks.... but if they think that we're gonna let some johnny-come-latelys grab 100 billion dollars worth of territory without a fight they are smoking FAR too strong a hookah pipe in Ankara.