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U.S. braces for 'massive' Turkish intervention in northern Iraq
World Tribune ^ | March 21, 2003 | World Tribune

Posted on 03/21/2003 6:04:26 AM PST by JudgeAmint

Latest from Debka....

DEBKAfile

HEADLINES

Fresh flare-up of US-Turkish military frictions. Ankara holds back permission for American over-flights in reprisal for US denial of Turkish troop entry into northern Iraq.

Ankara also furious over US joining forces with Kurds for northern oil fields takeover.



TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: debka; kurds; middleeastconflict; turkey
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U.S. braces for 'massive' Turkish intervention in northern Iraq

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM

Thursday, March 20, 2003

WASHINGTON — The United States appears resigned to the prospect that Turkey will intervene militarily in northern Iraq.

U.S. officials said the Bush administration has been unsuccessful in efforts to persuade Ankara to refrain from military intervention in northern Iraq. They said despite appeals and warnings from President George Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell, Turkey has already deployed more than 20,000 troops in northern Iraq and plans major operations against suspected Kurdish insurgents.

"Turkey sees northern Iraq as part of its strategic zone of influence and nothing we have said has changed anything," an official said. "We can expect a massive Turkish military operation as soon as the war begins."

The officials said a Turkish operation against Kurdish insurgents would focus on the banned Kurdish Workers Party, thousands of members of which are believed deployed in northern Iraq. They said Turkey has also transferred weapons to the Turkmen, or ethnic Turkish majority, in what could spark ethnic battles in the area.

Bush's envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is said to have achieved little headway in efforts to prevent a Turkish military invasion of Iraq. Khalilzad has met Turkish leaders as well as help organize meetings between Kurdish military commanders and Ankara.

"We have been working with Turkey to make sure that we keep tensions on its northern border, on Iraq's northern border, at the lowest possible levels, and we expect the Turkish government, as well as the Iraqi parties, to be responsive to our concerns," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Wednesday.

So far, Turkish military commanders and officials have met two sets of Iraqi Kurdish opposition leaders. Turkey has insisted that Turkmen leaders attend the sessions as well.

The meetings have included Patriotic Union of Kurdistan leader Jalal Talabani, who is regarded as the most pro-American figure in northern Iraq. Officials said the meetings have been tense.

Officials said Khalilzad's mission has been to ensure U.S.-Turkish-Kurdish military coordination to avoid clashes in northern Iraq. Khalilzad said Washington intends to capture the oil-rich cities of Kirkuk and Mosul.

At the same time, Khalilzad wanted Ankara's commitment that Turkish troops would stay out of those cities. Officials said Turkey's response was noncommital.

"We're expecting a dirty war in northern Iraq," an official said. "I'm not sure we're going to be in the position to do anything about it."

On Wednesday, the Bush administration stressed that Ankara's agreement for U.S. use of Turkish air space for the war against Iraq would not warrant special U.S. aid to Turkey. "Overflights are routinely granted by other member nations without any questions of financial assistance or the need for dealing with any economic consequences," Boucher, the State Department spokesman, said.]

For their part, Turkey has refused to place limits on how many forces it would senâ to Iraq. On Thursday, Turkey's parliament is expected to vote on a new government request to send troops to northern Iraq. The government proposal also includes permission for U.S. use of Turkish air space.

"Their number will be as much as necessary," Turkish Cabinet spokesman Cemil Cicek said.

1 posted on 03/21/2003 6:04:26 AM PST by JudgeAmint
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To: MizSterious; spectre
Ping...
2 posted on 03/21/2003 6:04:56 AM PST by JudgeAmint (from DA Judge!!)
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To: JudgeAmint
It' MOAB time.
3 posted on 03/21/2003 6:05:36 AM PST by jerryrivers
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To: JudgeAmint
no doubt by accident, this story is fundamentally true. and it illustrates just how thoroughly turkey screwed itself. things are unfolding exactly as we want them to unfold.

dep

4 posted on 03/21/2003 6:06:27 AM PST by dep
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To: JudgeAmint
This could get ugly. The last thing the coalition needs is Turkey stirring in the pot "unilaterally".
5 posted on 03/21/2003 6:06:35 AM PST by ladtx ("...the very obsession of your public service must be Duty, Honor, Country." D. MacArthur)
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To: JudgeAmint
If Turkey is crossing the line, they will greatly regret it later. They risk destroying their friendship with the U.S.
6 posted on 03/21/2003 6:07:07 AM PST by tomahawk (.)
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To: JudgeAmint
Nothing that a few bombs won't take care of!
7 posted on 03/21/2003 6:07:12 AM PST by TLBSHOW (The gift is to see the truth......)
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To: JudgeAmint
The U.S. cannot permit this. It would be a second betrayal of the Kurds, quite as bad as the first. It would destroy the trust of the Iraqis we're there to liberate. And of course, it would destroy all vestiges of the meaning of NATO.

I think President Bush knows this. I hope he'll command the interdiction of the region against a Turkish incursion, by air power at minimum. We can only wait and watch -- and hope.

Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason:
http://palaceofreason.com

8 posted on 03/21/2003 6:08:23 AM PST by fporretto (Curmudgeon Emeritus, Palace of Reason)
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To: JudgeAmint
For their part, Turkey has refused to place limits on how many forces it would senâ to Iraq.

This is DEBKA and should be taken with a massive dose of tinfoil, however Turkey has no business sending any opportunistic forces at all into Iraq, and the US needs to kick its arse back out of there if it tries. Whether Bush will is another story.

9 posted on 03/21/2003 6:08:34 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck (O Columbia... Thy banners make tyranny tremble... when borne by the red, white and blue)
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To: a_Turk
Turkeys-stay-out-of-Iraq bump
10 posted on 03/21/2003 6:10:25 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck (O Columbia... Thy banners make tyranny tremble... when borne by the red, white and blue)
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To: tomahawk
Why would they turks regret it? The State Dept forgave them after the Cyprus invasion and ethnc cleansing of its Christian population. Excusethen- we needed Cyprus against the USSR, excuse now- we need secular Turkey to help Israel.

Or maybe this will be the straw that finally broke the Turko-loving State Dept's back?

11 posted on 03/21/2003 6:11:59 AM PST by Destro (Fight Islamic terrorisim by visiting www.johnathangaltfilms.com)
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To: JudgeAmint
So this is not a debka story but a WORLD TRIBUNE.COM story?
12 posted on 03/21/2003 6:13:22 AM PST by Destro (Fight Islamic terrorisim by visiting www.johnathangaltfilms.com)
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To: fporretto
"...a second betrayal of the Kurds..."

I agree. Looking back at all the waffling Turkey has done and the ridicule that the press has smugly heaped on the administration, we ought to have jusy left them out altogether. We can't risk pitting the Kurds against us in the north during the conflict or sparking guerrilla action afterwards. Note to turkey: THANKS, BUT NO THANKS.


13 posted on 03/21/2003 6:14:43 AM PST by SquirrelKing ("War is not nice." - Barbara Bush (W.T. Sherman in pearls.)
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To: tomahawk; Destro
They (the turks) risk destroying their friendship with the U.S

they already did..........they sided with the Euro wimps two weeks ago and now are just trying to be a spoiler.

14 posted on 03/21/2003 6:15:31 AM PST by vooch
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To: vooch
I wouldn't worry about it. Once we get there we'll let all the players know we're not to be messed with.
15 posted on 03/21/2003 6:16:30 AM PST by goldstategop
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To: SquirrelKing
If US fails to contain the Turks, this would be the worst strategery failure of the entire affair: sweeping out one demon just to make room for another. Despite all the other great anti-terror successes of Bush, this failure would spoil it all and make us look like the "French" of the Middle East.
16 posted on 03/21/2003 6:23:43 AM PST by Nevermore
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To: JudgeAmint
DEBKA is not to be taken seriously
17 posted on 03/21/2003 6:26:26 AM PST by MJY1288 (We're Rolling)
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To: ladtx
The last thing the coalition needs is Turkey stirring in the pot "unilaterally".

You mean ... with half the world supporting them? 'Cuz that's what "unilaterally" appears to mean...

18 posted on 03/21/2003 6:26:34 AM PST by Smile-n-Win
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To: Nevermore
Likewise, containing the Kurds could be another problem, if post-war Iraq is expected to evolve past the point of being a protectorate. We do need the UN in this, when the dust settles.
19 posted on 03/21/2003 6:31:26 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck (O Columbia... Thy banners make tyranny tremble... when borne by the red, white and blue)
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To: fporretto
...It would be a second betrayal of the Kurds...

IIRC, there are 70,000 Kurds under US command in northern Iraq. Turkey may be waiting until the Kurds move with us against the northern Iraqi cities. This would draw the Kurds away from the Iraq - Turkey border. Then Turkey could swoop into northern Iraq and attack the Kurd territories in northern Iraq. Or maybe not.

20 posted on 03/21/2003 6:33:06 AM PST by relee
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