3.10.03
Report: US, Turkey to move against PKK
The BBC reports that "Turkey and the US have agreed on an action-plan to eradicate" the PKK. The report is sketchy, with a "US official" as the only source mentioned.
This official said that any military action would be carried out by the US. The BBC report speculates that this agreement will help the Turkish government convince Parliament to send soldiers to Iraq.
This agreement (assuming the report is true) is a bad idea for several reasons. It is not the US military's business to go after the PKK - they do not have the slightest connection to the supposed reason why the US is in Iraq. Going after the PKK will add another group to those which are already killing US soldiers there. Second, it is hard to see other Kurdish parties/factions in northern Iraq standing by and watching this happen. We have different circumstances now than before the war. This has a real potential to make the ethnic problems in Iraq even worse. Finally, as Juan Cole has pointed out several times, having Turkish soldiers in Iraq is a bad idea on its own, for various historical reasons.
The BBC reports that "Turkey and the US have agreed on an action-plan to eradicate" the PKK. The report is sketchy, with a "US official" as the only source mentioned.
This official said that any military action would be carried out by the US. The BBC report speculates that this agreement will help the Turkish government convince Parliament to send soldiers to Iraq.
This agreement (assuming the report is true) is a bad idea for several reasons. It is not the US military's business to go after the PKK - they do not have the slightest connection to the supposed reason why the US is in Iraq. Going after the PKK will add another group to those which are already killing US soldiers there. Second, it is hard to see other Kurdish parties/factions in northern Iraq standing by and watching this happen. We have different circumstances now than before the war. This has a real potential to make the ethnic problems in Iraq even worse. Finally, as Juan Cole has pointed out several times, having Turkish soldiers in Iraq is a bad idea on its own, for various historical reasons.
