U.S. is seeking troops for Iraq, Turkey says

IHT ^ | 7/21/03

[Ranger]

The Bush administration has asked Turkey to send troops to Iraq to help stabilize the country, the Turkish prime minister has reported.

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Such a request, if confirmed, would come after a period of tension between the two longtime allies. Earlier this month, U.S. soldiers detained 11 Turkish soldiers in northern Iraq on suspicion that they were trying to assassinate a U.S.-backed Iraqi Kurdish official.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday in a speech that the United States had asked the Turks to send soldiers into Iraq as part of a proposed multinational force to help the Americans maintain order.

Erdogan offered few details of the request and did not say whether his government would be inclined to grant it. Hurriyet, a leading daily newspaper here, said Sunday that the Americans had asked the Turks to send 10,000 troops to Iraq. The report cited unnamed sources.

A U.S. official in Ankara, the capital, would not confirm Erdogan's assertion but he said officials from the two countries had discussed the issue during a visit by senior U.S. military officers here last Friday.

With about 147,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, the Bush administration has been searching for allies to pick up some of the burden. Last week, India said it would not send peacekeeping troops to Iraq unless they operated under the auspices of the United Nations. France rejected a similar request.

[Ranger]

I can't see anything productive being added by more Turkish troops in Iraq.

[grania]

I can't see anything productive being added by more Turkish troops in Iraq.

Wouldn't this anger the Kurds? And maybe make the situation worse?

[Ranger]

Yup. I think they wouldn't like it one bit.

[Angelus Errare]

So don't station them in the Kurdish areas. You want to stop the Iranian-backed SCIRI and al-Sadr's "Mehdi Army" in the south though, the Turks would be perfect. They're very good at counter-insurgency operations.

[McGavin999]

It depends. If the Turks are sent to Baghdad or Southern Iraq it would be great.

[a_Turk]

>> Wouldn't this anger the Kurds?

Who cares what the Kurds think. We've already got 15000 troops there keeping them in line.

While visiting with the Turkish general staff in Ankara, Abizaid has asked whether he could trust the Turkish Armed Forces with the Tikrit Felucah areas.. You know, the parts where the US has the most trouble.. Abizaid mentioned something about our non-standard/ guerilla warfare experience..

That would be just south of the Kurds. Sounds like a plan.

Probably won't happen unless the US shows some backbone with the PKK terrorists..

Wonder what we'll end up doing should a dem make it into office.. Or maybe this will be the political shot in the arm that W needs..

We'll know more by the end of the week..

[Angelus Errare]

"Who cares what the Kurds think. We've already got 15000 troops there keeping them in line."

True, but the PUK and KDP both have their own private militias (which are now merged, unless I'm mistaken) and the main threat to them right now appear to be Ansar al-Islam fighters returning from Iran.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-2813636,00.html

http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2003/tr20030716-0401.html

Of course, Ansar and their Iranian backers aren't going to make a distinction between Kurdish peshmerga and Turkish soldier.

"You know, the parts where the US has the most trouble.. Abizaid mentioned something about our non-standard/ guerilla warfare experience.."

Turkish expertise in that area is well-earned, given your successful campaigns against the PKK, the Turkish Hezbollah, and the DHKP.

"Probably won't happen unless the US shows some backbone with the PKK terrorists.."

I think wiping out the PKK is a service to humanity, especially as the group's politburo is starting to get cocky again with that assassination attempt on your governor. Not like they don't hate Americans too.