Turkish Parliament Rejects U.S. Plan to Send 62,000 Combat Troops to Turkey for Iraq War

AP ^

[Beck_isright]

Actually we do need them because there are no other allies that can contribute 50,000 plus troops to patrol the Iranian and Syrian border regions, unless we want to keep 200,000 plus of our own boys there for a long, lont time. Something doesn't add up with this and I'm beginning to think there are some serious deceptions for the benefit of Iraq's leadership and public consumption. That's too much money for Turkey to leave on the table and too much influence in the Middle East to surrender.

[dinok]

Powel and the rest of the peacenick State Department types..."Peace in our times?"

[Torie]

If we beleive A_Turk, what Turkey is more interested in patrolling is not borders, but the Kurd area of Iraq, which is fraught with incendiary issues post Saddam.

[RecentConvert]

I felt they were blackmailing us anyway.

They were, are, and will continue to squeeze and blackmail us. Hey, about using those $15 billion we will be sending to Africa to fight the pseudo AIDS epidemic to pay off the Turkish?

[KingNo155]

cut the Turks out now! lets guarentee an autonomise kurdish state! (SRY 4 spelling)

[RecentConvert]

The fewer alliances we form with scumbag islamic governments, the better off we are.

You nailed it.

[mikenola]

Interesting idea! Looks like the transit time would be quicker and less mountainous too.

[Beck_isright]

Actually, from my conversations with a_Turk, the desire is to have a unified Iraq state under a strong democratically elected government with one military and no factional armed militias. The problem is that we, the Turks, Iraqis, Syrians, Iranians, etc. have armed all aspects of the various ethnic groups in Iraq and disarming them will require a lot of manpower and a strong central government open to all. I think that if this is not a deception and the Turks do not allow us to use their bases in reality, then I think it will be the end of NATO. And that is not a bad thing IMHO.

[F16Fighter]

MEMO TO UN, France, Germany, Russia, China, Turkey, and especially you idiotic 'Human Shields':

EVERYBODY GET THE H*LL OUT OF THE KITCHEN IMMEDIATELY! Dinner is about to be served. ALL BS negotiations, deals, and arrangements are now null, void, AND irrelevant...

BTW, the massive round-the-clock bombing begins in five minutes.

[Walkingfeather]

My concern is we have a huge amount of personel and equipment hanging out like sitting ducks.

[Beck_isright]

Not really. We can cross it back into Greece and Bulgaria in short order. Also we need to be in that region anyways to move into the Central Asian Republics to surround Iran anyways. The most important thing we must do, regardless of this outcome with Turkey and NATO, is to create a buffer between Iran and Russia. Neither are to be trusted.

[CurlyBill]

Okay, here's the deal....

...We don't need Turkey. All we have to do is move the forces into Northern Iraq and set up there. It's a logistical undertaking, but I think it could be worked out.

[Walkingfeather]

Hmmm logistics logistics.... what happens if Turkey gets wacked with a Bio weapon..? Don't you think they are looking a bit vulnerable right now?

[Beck_isright]

Not really. We're a pretty good distance from Iraq and it would take a seriously lucky shot to hit those guys on the ground. I'm more worried about our shores and the Kuwait bases than the Northern front. I'm more concerned about 10 or 20 122mm shells with VX being dropped in our assembly areas inside Kuwait than anything in Turkey.

[Walkingfeather]

great now that will make me sleep better. Thanks for your info. Goodnight.

[Light Speed]

Turkey is not the fiscal cripple like they play at.
European banking has been in Turkey a long time...even with Turkeys historic political re-alignments..the Euro Banking continued.
This is multi layered banking..aka shipping Insurance and Re-Insurance..some of the Biggy Euro Insurance firms playing here..and why U.N. Sanctions guranteed iraqi oil flowing....with the Euro stamp on it.
Clinton had some trouble with the Turks,who had found a new friend in Russia,both of them swimming in Caspian oil.
BP oil didn't mind..neither the French..or the Euro's.
Russia was helped along fiscally,encouraged to move away from arms/weapons sales to broker oil/gas and supplier too.
Russia was elevated by the U.S. oil technical experts...Russia was steered into the oil/gas market in Europe as a reward for co-oping with the U.S. in world stratagem.
The Caspian:

Lots of players here..Russia prime..Turkey too..in that the Turks have a big slice in oil/gas pipelines ,terminals,and the Euro Insurance thingy.
Caspian oil/gas is not good quality..it requires cleaning..and is costly.
U.S. oil firms want the low sulphur oil of Iraq and the Persian gulf..content to build pipelines via consortium with the new Stans...with a view of providing the Orient for its new thirst.

Turkey:

Clearly they are not waffling like they have some internal thing to work out..bluntly...Europe and Russia are diverting Turkeys attention.
Europe is chaffing at the words of the U.S of recent...they are getting even by stroking the Turks...who are throwing a wrench in things.
Turkey is in a vulnerable spot however...Russia is by no means able to foot the money needed to keep Caspian chugging along...Russia does the dance still of buying U.S. Dollars and buying into the Euro.

Turkey may be intoxicated with its new power and friends,...she should also consider her fate..which could easily become a Jobe Ash heap like Iran..who paid big time for screwing up the oil/military contracts of the past....
Iran......still staggering in third world oblivion.

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Project to build gas pipeline from the Caspian Sea to Turkey is launched February 28, 2003 Baku, February 28, 2003. (CNA). The international partners working to build a natural gas pipeline from the Caspian Sea to Turkey gave the US$3.2 billion project the go-ahead on Thursday. When complete, the project will pump an estimated 8.4 billion cubic meters (296.61 billion cubic feet) of gas annually from the Shah Deniz field through Baku and the Georgian capital Tbilisi to Erzurum in Turkey. Construction gets underway next year, and the first gas deliveries are expected in 2006. "Another milestone has been achieved," Medjid Kerimov, Azerbaijan's minister of fuel and energy, said at the official ceremony in Baku, according to a press statement. "The scale of the project means that Azerbaijan is now firmly positioned to become a major gas exporter." Natig Aliev, president of Azerbaijan's state-owned oil company, said the project will help bring this impoverished region "economic prosperity and stability." BP PLC will operate the pipeline. Other participants are Norway's Statoil, Azerbaijan's state oil company and France's TotalFinaElf. The project calls for a drilling platform, five underwater wells, two underwater pipelines, aboveground pipelines, and an onshore processing terminal. A Russian diplomat this week expressed concern about the environmental impact of pipelines along the bottom of the Caspian, but there was no indication that Russian complaints would have any direct effect on the project.

Fears mar launch of BP-Statoil energy project February 28, 2003 AN ENERGY project linking gasfields in the Caspian Sea with Europe was launched yesterday by BP and Statoil, of Norway. But the $3.2 billion (£2 billion) investment is dogged by concerns that Turkey, the main buyer for the fuel, will not need the gas when it comes on stream in 2006. Statoil, which has taken on the role of commercial operator for the Shah Deniz gas project, said that contracts for gas sales had been signed with Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. A pipeline will stretch 690km from the Shah Deniz gasfield offshore from Baku to Erzurum in eastern Turkey where it will join the gas grid operated by Botas, Turkey’s state gas company. Deliveries of gas are expected from early 2006 but analysts doubt that there is a market for the fuel because the economy is stagnating and Turkey has bought too much gas. A spokesman for Statoil agreed that demand was an issue. “At the end of the day it looks like there will be a gas surplus but we don’t think we will have a problem because our gas is priced very competitively.” Turkey recently renegotiated a contract to buy gas from Russia, securing a 9 per cent price reduction for the fuel, which reaches Turkey through the recently completed Blue Stream pipeline under the Black Sea. Turkey has also agreed to buy gas from Iran and liquefied gas from Nigeria but the Government has twice lowered its forecasts of an increase in demand for the fuel. Botas has plans to re-export gas through a planned pipeline to Greece and another line running north to Austria but these projects are at very early stages of planning. BP and Statoil each have a quarter share in the gasfield and the South Caucasus pipeline, which will follow the route of the controversial Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline.

[Redcloak]

Tsk, tsk... I would certainly hate to see things now unfold in such a way that a Kurdish state were to be established on Turkey's border. That would, no doubt, be a cause for concern in Ankara. In fact, I'm fairly certain that they'd go so far as to ask the US to intervene in such a scenario and prevent a Kurdish state from being founded. Of course, there's nothing in America's interests that demands a Kurdish state, but one still wonders why we would intervene. Isn't that the sort of thing one friend would do for another? It's the "friend" part that's looking... What's the word? ...murky. Perhaps if the Turks were our friends; but alas, Parliament doesn't seem to think that the term applies here.

[RobbyS]

I assume that a one-front war would require a much longer period of bombardment from the air as in 1991. This to eliminate any enemy bombardment. Plus the word must get out that any use of Cemical and biological weapons on their part, especially if they threatened US forces and caused signnificant casulaties, would mean we would take all appropriate measures in response.

Of course, a more limited offensive from the north is possible and that we would make full use of existing opposition forces without the distraction of Turk-Kurd animosities. If Turkey stays out, a Kurdish republic seem inevitable.

I gather that this will sink in pretty soon. Will the Army allow the Islamists to make the Kurdish problem more difficult?

The "game" becomes ever more interesting.

[deedgirl]

Powell should resign,but Bush should have known better and listened to two far more important indivduals Cheney and Rumsfeld.This UN mess is going to cost him the election in 2004,thanks to the all perfect Powell.

[Beck_isright]

"Plus the word must get out that any use of Cemical and biological weapons on their part, especially if they threatened US forces and caused signnificant casulaties, would mean we would take all appropriate measures in response."

My concern is that the rules are different this time. Sadamn knows if we detonate a nuke, we become the parriahs of the civilized world, the only nation to do this twice in history. Plus what does he care, he'll be hiding out in another nation the moment the bombs drop.

"If Turkey stays out, a Kurdish republic seem inevitable."

Not a prayer in hell. If we allow a Kurdish republic to form, it will destabalize the region for the next 200 years. And Turkey will never allow it. The minute we withdrew our forces, they would squash it. Not to mention do you really want the Kurds as an ally? They are less trustworthy than the french.

"Will the Army allow the Islamists to make the Kurdish problem more difficult? "

More like will the Army allow the IRANIANS to make the Kurdish problem more difficult???

Life will not be boring for the next 2 months that's for sure....