Turkish airspace opened to US air forces

3/19/03

[Thane_Banquo]

Per Foxnews, Turkish PM says Turkish airspace opened to US aircraft.

[goldstategop]

Bump! Wahoo! We've opened up a second front against Saddam.

[areafiftyone]

Good! It will save alot of time!

[TexasGunLover]

I just hope we didn't pay for it... instead of 15 or whatever billion dollars I hope we pay for it with 15 billion pieces of Saddam.... But all the same if it saves American lives it's worth whatever we paid for it....

[cactusSharp]

not yet...a vote to Parliment is TOMORROW on the fly over use....tomorrow is hours too late me thinks

[gas_dr]

Beat me by about 20 seconds...

[gramho12]

Amazing when people LEAD, others will follow. Thank you to the Liberty Team, BUSH/BLAIR.

[Thane_Banquo]

Also, no US funds will be given to Turkey, per Fox.

Fox was sourcing Reuters for all this.

[TexasGunLover]

Also, no US funds will be given to Turkey, per Fox.

Whoohoo!!!

[Sacajaweau]

Tough diplomacy here. We will lead the Kurd troops AND have the airspace. Was afraid we would get in the middle. This sounds better and the Kurds will help us with those wells up north. Very delicate situation.

[per loin]

Free the Kurds!

[Semper Paratus]

"Air Squandron Commander to all Air Groups:

Men, we have some new navigaitional way points to enter."

[Prince Charles]

Yes but... they are NOT allowing us to use the NATO air bases, even for refueling. And, the parliament has to sign off on this. In other words, it's more of the same B/S.

Fine, next time there's an earthquake that flattens large parts of the country, let the friggin French and Germans send in money and help.

[VRWC_minion]

I wouldn't be surprised if we have a major troop presence either.

[Wphile]

Except maybe this time they have actually rounded up the votes BEFORE the vote. The mistake the last time was they didn't have a clue how the vote was going to come out. Poor planning.

[Dog]

Easy it goes to the Turkish Parliament to be voted on tomorrow. They will not allow bases to be used for our attack ....no refueling allowed at Turkish bases.

We will only be allowed to overfly the country...

[areafiftyone]

oh poop!

[Dog Gone]

ANKARA (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday Turkey was preparing to open its air space to U.S. warplanes but would not allow them access to air bases even for refueling.

The Turkish proposal, expected to be voted on in parliament on Thursday, falls far short of original discussions on allowing up to 62,000 U.S. troops to use the country to launch an assault on northern Iraq.

It means Turkey will forfeit a U.S. aid package that was to have awarded the country up to $30 billion in U.S. grants and loans.

Erdogan said Turkey's talks with the United States were now only on military and political issues, not economic, and added the parliament resolution would not give Washington the right to use Turkish airbases.

"No, none of those are in it," the Anatolian news agency quoted him as saying when asked about authorization for airbases and refueling.

[Prince Charles]

Possibly, but still not having use of the bases will certainly hamper air operations.

[illumini]

With large Amphibious aircraft, we could have landed on as many as 33 lakes in northern Iraq. -But we don't have the Amphibious aircraft.