Posted on 08/20/2002 2:04:23 AM PDT by BlackJack
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkey is ready to set up refugee camps inside northern Iraq to shelter and feed thousands who may flee any U.S. military strike against neighboring Iraq, a Turkish Red Crescent official said.
Turkey, a close U.S. ally likely to play a role in any strike on Iraq, is determined to avoid the international humiliation and scorn it suffered after the 1991 Gulf War when one million Kurdish refugees, starving and exhausted, crossed over the region's mountains into Turkey.
Turkish troops initially tried to hold the exodus inside Iraq but were rapidly overwhelmed by sheer numbers of refugees who soon exhausted meager local provisions. The pictures of chaos and suffering in the makeshift camps inside Turkey were broadcast internationally. "The priority is to set up a buffer zone 10 miles inside Iraq to provide for any Iraqis who may cross the border," Muzaffer Karadede, chief of the Red Crescent in the city of Diyarbakir, told reporters late on Monday.
There was also provision for handling refugees inside Turkey, a country suffering its worst recession since 1945.
Be careful posting that kinda stuff here. I once made reference to a moon phase in Texas on a particular date and several folks replied, "Yeah, so what? How do you know what the moon looked like in on that date?"
Methinks astrologers outnumber astronomers on FR.
Go figure...
I'm sure that there are plenty who can connect the dots from when the new moon is to the best time to attack...
As part of National Military Appreciation Month, the Department of Defense is gathering signatures on a brief message thanking the men and women of the U.S. military for defending our freedom. The compiled list of names will be sent out to our soldiers at the end of the month. So far, there are only about 460,000 names. It is really easy. The web page brings up a space to type your name, city and state.
Nice to see the Turks have learned from their past.
Nice to think Saddam will soon be toast.
From your lips to Saddam Hussein's cold, dead ears.
I'm sure we are ensuring he has that opportunity. A regiem change does not exactly mean invasion.
You are so right.
This cool weather hang up is over blown.
The enemy fights under the same weather conditions.
Also, the threat of gas or bio weapons is exaggerated.
American forces will pounce on the enemy so fast that if they were to launch a WMD response, the results would kill only the enemy and the civilians.
First of all, nobody is expecting it. The rest of the world assumes that on the anniversary of the attacks, we will be occupied with memorials and reliving the horrible day with wall-to-wall TV coverage. Even the president has announced (way ahead of time) that he will be attending memorials in NYC, DC and Pennsylvania so everybody in the Middle East will be sure to let their guard down. It is unusual for a president to telegraph so far ahead of time where he will be on a given day - for security reasons. But if we attack on 9/11, the president will have a good excuse to stay at the White House.
Secondly, by the time the first anniversary rolls around, the images of those horrific attacks will be once again fresh in everybody's minds. People will be angry again. What better time to go on the offensive against Iraq (and possibly others)? Especially if new facts have come to light about Iraq's involvement. The recent story about chemical weapons being tested on dogs in Iraq might be just the beginning of this propaganda offensive.
Thirdly, September 11 for years to come promises be a dark day of remembrance for America. What better way to help erase those memories than to also make September 11th the day of our revenge!
Lastly, and more cynically, the mid-term elections are coming up. If Bush waits until October to launch the offensive, he will be accused of timing the action for maximum political gain. But if September 11th is "D-Day," then Bush can use September 11 as political cover. His critics will be muted because lets face it, if we make our move on September 11th, the people of the United States will be bowled over by the symbolism of it all and be fully behind the president.
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