Turkey wants northern Iraq

Daily Times ^

[BlackJack]

‘Turkey demands control of Iraq from US’

By Owen Matthews, Sami Kohen and John Barry

ANKARA: Turkey is raising its price for allowing US forces to invade Iraq from its territory. In early negotiations with the United States, Ankara spoke of sending in Turkish troops to set up a “buffer zone” perhaps 15 miles deep along the Iraqi border. This would prevent a flood of Kurdish refugees from northern Iraq, the Turks said.

But now, Newsweek has learned, Turkey is demanding that it send 60,000 to 80,000 of its own troops into northern Iraq to establish “strategic positions” across a “security arc” as much as 140 to 170 miles deep in Iraq. That would take Turkish troops almost halfway to Baghdad. These troops would not be under US command, according to Turkish sources, who say Turkey has agreed only to “coordination” between US and Turkish forces.

Ankara fears the Iraqi Kurds might use Saddam’s fall to declare independence. Kurdish leaders have not yet been told of this new plan, according to Kurdish spokesmen in Washington, who say the Kurds rejected even the earlier notion of a narrow buffer zone. Farhad Barzani, the US representative of the main Kurdish party in Iraq, the KDP, says, “We have told them: American troops will come as liberators. But Turkish troops will be seen as invaders.”

The White House did not respond to requests for comment; officials elsewhere in the administration played down the Turkish demands as bargaining tactics: “We told them flat out, no.” But independent diplomatic sources in Ankara and Washington with knowledge of the US-Turkey talks say that while the precise depth of the “security zone” has still to be agreed, the concept is “pretty much a done deal,” as one observer put it.

These sources add that the main US concern has been that US, not Turkish, troops occupy the northern Iraqi cities of Mosul and Kirkuk, and that Turkish troops merely surround but not enter the heavily Kurdish cities of Erbil and Sulemaniye. To get Turkey’s assent to this, these sources say, the United States had to “cave” on its demand that Turkish troops be under US control.

Two days of tough negotiations in Washington last week failed to settle the other part of Turkey’s price: a multibillion-dollar economic package. Turkish PM Abdullah Gul is now threatening to delay the all-important vote in the Turkish Parliament to allow US deployments in Turkey. Pentagon officials acknowledge frustration at the problems Turkey’s bargaining poses for the US military buildup.

Turkish sources say that when Turkey’s Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis met with President Bush on Friday, the president warned that the United States might open a northern front against Iraq without Turkish participation. But military sources say that would be close to impossible.

“Turkey is playing hardball,” said Michael Amitay of the Washington Kurdish Institute. “But if the US agrees to these Turkish deployments, there is a real risk that the Kurds will start a guerrilla war against the Turkish troops.” —Newsweek

[tomahawk]

U.S. Military Ready for Iraq Invasion -Rumsfeld By Charles Aldinger WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The military build-up in the Gulf region has reached the point where U.S. and British forces are now ready to invade Iraq if the order is given, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Thursday. "I would characterize it as ample," Rumsfeld, interviewed on Public Television's "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," said of the force of tens of thousands of U.S. and British troops massed in the area. "We are at a point where, if the president (George W. Bush) makes that decision (to attack), the Department of Defense is prepared and has the capabilities and the strategy to do that," he said. Asked if the U.S. and British forces were ready to go to war now, Rumsfeld replied: "Yes." "There will be a large coalition. There will be a lot of countries" involved in any such effort, Rumsfeld said, repeating assertions that an international coalition would quickly emerge if Bush decided to move. Defense officials say the United States and Britain have gathered more than 150,000 troops in the region along with dozens of warships and hundreds of aircraft. But Rumsfeld refused to discuss exact troop totals, saying "I don't do numbers." The force will soon include six aircraft carriers -- five American and one British -- and could reach more than 200,000 troops by the end of February, according to U.S. officials. Rumsfeld stressed that U.S. military leaders were planning for a wide range of contingencies in any war in Iraq, ranging from immediate and widespread surrender of Iraqi troops to possible use of chemical and biological weapons by Iraq and door-to-door urban combat in "fortress Baghdad." "Plans have been prepared to deal with a full range of possibilities ... I think the downsides have been widely discussed," he said. Rumsfeld spoke amid speculation that the massed forces could launch a war within weeks, even as the United States and Britain are preparing to press for a new U.N. resolution warning Iraq that time has run out to make full disclosure of its arms programs. The United States and Britain accuse Iraq of hiding banned chemical and biological weapons, but Baghdad denies the charge. Rumsfeld said U.S. military planners were prepared for the possible failure of attempts to reach agreement with Turkey on using its territory as a springboard for a thrust into northern Iraq. "We will do it another way," he said without elaborating.

[tomahawk]

Sorry for the lost of paragraphing on my last post.

[Beck_isright]

I do because the majority of them were trained, armed and funded by the Iranian mullahs. The Kurds (rightly so) believe we sold them out in 91. Now they want to make a grab for a nation and if they get it, to declare a military alliance with the Iranians. They are no better than the Saudis, so I say don't trust them.

[ScholarWarrior]

I don't doubt that Iran is worried about us. Yes, I would prefer to have 100,000 Turks fighting with us instead of being in their barracks.

Iran would rather negotiate with us than attack our forces directly in Iraq with massive infantry / armor.

We would take them apart. We would also see and hear them coming for miles and months ahead.

[Thud]

The mullahs won't last six months after we take Baghdad and will be lucky to last six weeks. We know how to provide privileged sanctuaries too.

[George W. Bush]

We will not fire on a member of NATO unless fired upon. PERIOD.

If Turkey makes a grab for oil and land in northern Iraq, you must understand that they will have to fire on us to accomplish their objective. Many of these demands are very suspicious.

I think the Pentagon has planning in place to forestall a regional breakup including any land/oil grabs by Turkey or Iran.

[a_Turk]

>> That is hardly a reciprocation of trust.

It is soo confusing.

I guess one can trust the other to be any number of things. We have to work on being better partners. How could we accomplish that on the level?

[ChemistCat]

Land doesn't mean what it did. Resources don't mean what they did. An elected government that changes hands from time to time isn't like a caliphate that owns and controls things for generations on end, and enriches an elite ruling class while keeping the vast majority of citizens out of the money. Turkey has a free market system, and private corporations will be able to work with its government.

The goal here ought to be to take resources and human lives out of the hands of irresponsible, capricious, greedy, and cruel tyrants, and put them into the hands of people who have a track record of reasonably good management, especially "lately." Unless we want to be very much the "absentee landlord" with less appreciation of the area's problems than King George had of ours, we NEED the Turks to be that management. They're nearby, they "play well with others," and they have a track record.

[a_Turk]

tomatoe? :)

[Beck_isright]

Sadly, the Iranian mullahs might last up to a year. We have to really get the structure in place to set up a covert operation there. We blew it when we let the nutcake in (thank you James Earl Chamberlain) back in the 70's and now we're paying the price. We will have more to deal with for the next 6 months after the war than just Iran. The House of Saud is shaky too, so we'll have to watch that nation along with all of other fun, party spots; you know, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, and ooops, those nuclear nuts, Pakistan.

[Beck_isright]

We would never fire on Turkey. Keep in mind that probably 90% of this is a smokescreen to keep the Iraqis guessing. Everyone needs to calm down and get focused on the problems: Iraq and Iran. Turkey is not a problem, it's just a smokescreen created by our media and our DoD. Turkey will be there for us like we will for them. And to control Syria, Iraq and Iran, we will need them as full partners. Or would you rather depend on the House of Saud to help us?

[George W. Bush]

LOL! That'll be a sight. US bombing Turkey.

No, just the destruction of any hostile Turkish forces trying to take Mosul/Kirkut by force and firing upon our troops.

[He Rides A White Horse]

Let me say that I hope Turkey hasn't decided to to throw its lot in with Chirac and Schroeder for that European Union thing. They are on their way out.

Bulgaria and other countries don't seem to care very much for the Axis of the Gutless; it would be a shame if Turkey thinks that not supporting the United States will endear themselves to such men. If one wants friends such as these, that's what you'll get. Friends and allies such as Chirac and Schroeder who would sell you out faster than you can say "Euro".

The United States is drawing its friends close; nations who refuse to be cowed by threats of not being admitted to the European Union. Nations who don't like Chirac telling them they missed their opportunity to shut up.

The United States and its allies will be a far more formidible and cohesive organization than some pissant European Union headed by weasels.

Turkey can decide what it wants and who it wants to associate with of course, they are a sovereign nation. If Turkey wants to side with France and Germany, then so be it.

[Beck_isright]

"How could we accomplish that on the level?"

By ignoring the smokescreen my friend. I doubt seriously that the issues are as dramatic as both medias play them up to be. This is the proverbial 'noise' to confuse the enemy. I know we'll settle everything when it's all said and done and Turkey will benefit greatly and hopefully at the expense of the french.

[a_Turk]

The entire southeast of Turkey is going back to emergency rule.

[xm177e2]

The Kurds are fragmented, but that's mostly because of their circumstances. They're besieged on all sides by Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. The Kurds under US protection in the No-Fly Zone in Northern Iraq have a nice little democracy and if anything happened to it--especially to appease Turkey--it would be a damn shame. It's not worth fighting this war if we don't spread democratic values in the Middle East. We can only do so much militarily and economically, we have to leverage our hard power to create real change.

[xm177e2]

That's not a very nice thing to say.

It's not so nice, what the Turks have done to the Kurds.

If one side is deliberately attacking civilians, the other side has no compulsion to play nice.

In any case, the Iraqi Kurds haven't done much terrorizing, they've been very well-behaved, and they deserve better than becoming a Turkish protectorate.

[AntiGuv]

We have no troops in Mosul or Kirkuk - which are currently held by two divisions of the Republican Guard. Ergo, any hostile Turkish forces trying to take Mosul/Kirkuk would not be firing upon our troops.

[George W. Bush]

Or would you rather depend on the House of Saud to help us?

I've decided we can probably trust the Brits and Israel. All other bets are off. They have been for some time now. I certainly didn't expect what we're getting from Turkey.

[He Rides A White Horse]

By thinking of the things that may occur down the road, unlike the chronically myopic French and Germans. It's no wonder that two world wars have started on that continent.