"*Remembering those FReepers who told me what great friends the Turks are to America*"
I haven't followed it and don't know what the reality of Turkey was in the past, but it's clear that they have tipped into Islamacism.
One sad thing about it is that we have consistently sacrificed the Kurds---a truly cool people---for our friendship with Turkey. Theoretically, it is not too late to reverse course and support an independent Iraqi Kurdistan---a nation we could defend militarily without casualties because there are no IED's and no car bombs in the Kurdish section of Iraq. I don't believe anybody is going to attack our army openly with tanks, planes, etc.
Realistically, this will never happen because it would imply abandonment of the rest of Iraq.
In WW2 they signed a mutual non-aggression treaty with Hitler and remained Germany's number one trading partner (supplying over 90% of the chromium needed to run the war machine - in spite of continuous pleas from FDR & Churchill). When the writing was on the wall they declared war on Germany in February 1945. They did this to position themselves as charter members of the UN (only those countries that were at war against the Axis qualified).
In 1950 the USSR was threatening them. They needed in to NATO but Europe didn't want them. They bought their way in by sending a 5,000 man brigade to Korea. They stayed our nominal ally until after the USSR ceased to be a threat.
Now turkey needs access to the EU. In March 2003, in order to curry favor and a favorable decision from Germany and France, they shut the door to our 4ID at the last minute, forcing us to invade Iraq with no northern force.
Turkey is 98% plus muslim. It is against the law to start a Christian church or even give somebody a Bible. The gov't has shut down both existing churches and Christian radio stations.
The turks who propagandized here tried to deny all this and villified any poster who challenged them. A Turk (living in America) actually stated that if push came to shove he would take up arms with the muzzies against the US and would teach his American born sons the same.
Actually, the Turks were pretty good allies for many years. But that changed with the Iraq war. My own theory is that Chirac subverted them, probably promising them easy entry into the EU if they refused to let us use their territory for the invasion.
I remember arguing with Freeper a_Turk on those threads. The Turks not only refused us passage, they strung us along and stabbed us in the back, keeping one of our key units out of the opening of the war. They also prevented us from establishing a northern front, which is one reason why we are having so much trouble in the Sunni Triangle. Because we never had a chance to kill those guys in the war.
I still haven't given up entirely, but it's evident that the Generals don't dare clamp down on the Muslim fanatics the way they used to. Turkey will be unreliable, probably, as long as this ferment in the Muslim world continues--which may be a very long time indeed.