[The Duke]

Actually, I think we're forgetting the perfect country in which we should establish our military base - Iraq itself! (Although, I should accompany this with the disclaimer that I disagree with the strategy of going to war against Iraq).

[kimosabe31]

We should've finished Turkey off during WWI.

[eeriegeno]

Colin Powell made a serious mistake late in 2002. He assumed that the folks at the United Nations and the leaders of the middle eastern countries are rational humans.....

[Thud]

ping

[Happy2BMe]

"Turkey's parliament dealt a stunning blow to U.S. war planning Saturday by failing to approve a bill allowing in American combat troops to open a northern front against Iraq."

There that word is again > > > TURKEY

[cyberaxe]

.....ok, put on the ole tinfoil hats.....

.....could it be a rope-a-dope?.....

.....a little mis-re-direction?.....

.....where was Whore-aldo's pictures of.....

....."these ships loaded with~".....

.....all I ever saw was a few.....

.....KFOR leftovers.....

.....wishful thinking I guess.....

.....but you gotta know.....

.....ole sadamite is thinking.....

.....he's dodged a bullet.....

.....maybe not.....

[hatfieldmccoy]

No Turkey, no France, no Russia, no problem
Damn it--- let's light this candle

[whadizit]

This whole project has been a tremendous failure of US diplomats. They were not able to sell this action to ONE country! We failed right from the start by allowing our success to be determined by anti-Americans in UN!!

[RecentConvert]

"We had certainly hoped for a favorable decision," he said. "We will wait for further information and advice from the government of Turkey about how we should proceed."

I'm afraid we're not the same country that made us the most powerful nation on earth and won WWII. Times are a-changing, people.

[KingNo155]

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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[fly_so_free]

Hmmmm this is very strange. From the way it was being reported, Turkey going along with us seemed to be a sure thing. I mean they cleared their people out and everything. Now at the last minute they change their minds? Hard to figure.

From their point of view, you can understand why they want ALOT OF MONEY and a gaurantee that we'd help them with refugees exc... We can send part of the blame for this to France, Germany and Belgium. Remember when they said they wouldn't give Turkey protection under NATO? It shocked alot of people and that had to make them(Turkey) skittish.

Now they go against us at the last minute? Why? I think I smell a 'RAT . Just a thought but: Picture that Turkey is seeing all these protests on TV and in their own country , (not to mention the Dan Rather interview with Saddam, where Dan treats him like he's a Nobel Prize winner). Then, say the government officials in Turkey get a call from some one, (or several people), from that other political party in the U.S.A ( whose best interest IS NOT SERVED by our having success in Iraq) and they tell them how they, the demac'RATS, don't want war, that our counrty is divided and in turmoil about it ,and that our ecconomy is in bad shape exc.., and that Turkey might lose out on any benefits because of this instability, and well; since they were already insecure because of the shocking NATO decision to not protect them, it kinda makes sense they'd back out.

If you add to this mix that the phone calls might have come from people very high up on the political ladder,(say an ex president or two maybe) they would really have a reason to not trust us. My imagination might be running away with me here, but considering all the things that we know went on in the previous administration, and all that was rumored to have gone on, it doesn't seem so far fetched. (Let's not forget that unauthorized visit to North Korea made by that representative of New Mexico (and former member of the previous administration) right about the time they started threatening us about their nuclear weapons and that OTHER party has used this in arguments against going to Iraq ever since then). But, maybe I read too many political intrigue novels. Then again maybe I just REALLY don't like demacrats, hence my tag line.

[observer5]

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

Another totally misleading, stupid AP headline...

It wasn't the Turkish Parliament that rejected the plan, it was the speaker who cancelled a PRO vote!!!

[tm22721]

There is a silver lining.

This will provoke the Turkish military to conduct another purge of Islamics.

BUMP

[WOSG]

After the speaker nullified the vote, hundreds of Turks celebrated in the streets of central Ankara, shouting anti-U.S. slogans. "We are all Iraqis ... We will not kill, we will not die," they chanted. They also accused the Islamic-rooted Justice party of "collaborating" with Washington.

Useless imbeciles, falling of the old 'support your local Muslim tyrant because he is Muslim' trick ... they needed to here Aziz Al - Taee, from Iraq, speak the truth.

"Saddam has killed more muslims than any other man in the world." - Aziz Al -Taee, at the patriots rally.

"Be on the side of the iraqi people, not on the side of mass-killers and murderers like saddam Hussein." he said his own cousin was killed, a fellow member on the state was tortured by electrocution, and another man lost 157 fellow tribesman. he mention halabja in march 1988, where 10,000 kurds were killed by chemical gas in one day.

"The Iraqi people are ready for liberation, they will welcome the forces of liberation .. we are not pro-war, but we are pro-liberation. the Iraqi people want to be liberated. ..." ... "Saddam Hussein is the real warmonger"

It is amazing (and sad) that a protest of people to defend Saddam Husein brings thousands more than a protest that calls for liberation of Iraq *from* this tyrant.

[snopercod]

Boycot Bay Leaves from Turkey! (That's their only export, isn't it?)