BUSH SAYS IRAQI WAR WAS EXTENDED BECAUSE OF TURKEY

[MENL] ^ | 04-29 -03

[HowBoutThemCowboys]

BUSH SAYS IRAQI WAR WAS EXTENDED BECAUSE OF TURKEY

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United States has again blamed Turkey for a failure of the Pentagon's "shock and awe" strategy against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

U.S. President George Bush said Turkey's refusal to allow American forces to enter that country to form a second front in northern Iraq was a major blow to the coalition against Saddam. Bush said the result was that Saddam was able to concentrate all of his forces around Baghdad.

Bush said the absence of a northern front reduced the element of surprise against the Saddam regime. The result, he said, was an improvement in Iraqi combat as Saddam moved his forces from north to south.

"Shock and awe said to many people that all we've got to do is unleash some might and people will crumble," Bush said in a television interview on Thursday. "And it turns out the fighters were a lot fiercer than we thought. Because, for example, we didn't come north from Turkey, Saddam Hussein was able to move a lot of special Republican Guard units and fighters from north to south. So the resistance for our troops moving south and north was significant resistance."

http://www.menewsline.com/stories/2003/april/04_29_2.html

[xm177e2]

Everybody knows this, but for the President to say it is still a big deal. Turkey will be in hot water with us for some time to come.

[MEG33]

Why wasn't this reported in the Washinton Post or NYT?

[konaice]

"Everybody knows this, but for the President to say it is still a big deal. Turkey will be in hot water with us for some time to come."

---
I'm not sure it will matter, as I suspect Turkey has slipped over the edge into Islamofacist mentality. I don't think their secular military will be enough to save them, because you only have to look where that military draws its troops from.

[xm177e2]

The idiot secularists over there screwed everything up by being so corrupt. What a bunch of wankers. Now we have to wait 20 years for the Islamists to mess up and get themselves thrown out of office by the voters. I think Erdogan wants to stay in power for as long as possible, so he isn't going to screw anything up. The longer he can keep Islamists in control of the country, the less influence the military will have in being able to kick him out. He's just going to strangle them slowly.

Well, if he's smart, that's what he's going to do. It look like it's going to come out that way.

[razorbak]

Why wasn't this reported in the Washinton Post or NYT?

Because it's true.

[MEG33]

LOL

[Always Right]

Funny how the Middle East Newslines gets scoops on what our President says.......

[zip]

It's still not serious enough for the military to take over again but never count the military out of the equation. Although it has been over 40 years since I was stationed there, I still keep up with the political scene and know the military is "the" force to be respected by the civilian govt types.

[patriciaruth]

Why wasn't this reported in the Washinton Post or NYT?

Because President Bush said this during his EXCLUSIVE interview with Tom Brokaw on NBC.

*eyes rolling up*

[Consort]

I still tend to think that the US and Turkey both knew that we also wanted our troops in Turkey.....to to contain the Turks....and prevent a possible Turk-Kurd battle with Iran waiting to jump in, and to prevent Turkey and Iran from annexing land and oil. The Kurds still occupy territory, I think, which has to be dealth with in one way or another.

[Coop]

"And it turns out the fighters were a lot fiercer than we thought."

I couldn't believe the President made this ridiculous statement. The overall resistance was a joke. The only reason the annoying guerilla tactics weren't crushed is because we didn't want to invade urban areas (can't blame them there).

[InvisibleChurch]

i'm sure that W will sign an aid pkg to turkey for a couple xillion dollars

[GraniteStateConservative]

Another thing that bugs me is when Ari and others in the WH use words like "believe" and "seems" and other passive words. What's the point? People will take the things they say as fact anyway.