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...and given US plans to arm the Kurds, with anti-aircraft artillery, by the way, and given the principle that the only moral relationships are to the best mutual advantage of the parties concerned, the moral position is, at the very least, a better understanding of the Turks' position.

But, Mortimer, don't you see that the current Turkish position is actually forcing us into arming the Kurds more heavily? I have no doubt at this point we are preparing to airdrop or land tens of thousands of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles to the Kurds. And this simply would not have happened had Turkey cooperated in its own self-interest and with a very generous aid package.

We do need an ally in the north. If the Turks won't, we'll have to take the Kurds. And it is the Turks who are forcing us to this. No one wanted it. No one wants to arm the Kurds. But if it means the difference in hundreds or thousands of American dead, we'll cut a deal with them for a northern front.

After the celebration of the Turkish parliament's vote, we didn't get a chance to see the celebrations going on in Kurdish territory in northern Iraq. But the Kurds and Saddam are the only ones who have any reason to be happy about it.