BAGHDAD, Oct. 24, 2007
Turks Hit Suspected Kurdish Rebels In Iraq
Tension On Border Increases Despite Feverish Diplomacy, Turkey "Cannot Wait Forever"
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Turkey Wants Action
Turkey is calling for action from Iraq to stop attacks by the Kurdish PKK rebels, but to do that Iraq would need help from U.S. troops, which are already stretched too thin. Charlie D'Agata reports.
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Growing Tensions In Turkey
Up to the Minute Contriubutor Frank Ucciardo examines the growing tensions between the Kurds and Turkey after the PTT attacks Turkish border troops.
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U.S. Army troops guard a checkpoint in the Mansour district in western Baghdad. The death toll for U.S. soldiers, as well as Iraqi civilians, is on pace to decline for a second straight month in October. (AP Photo/Wisam Sami)
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A Turkish soldier holds his machine gun as patrols the area near Turkey-Iraq border, atop of an armored vehicle, in the province of Sirnak, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2007. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
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The Kurds And Northern Iraq
Learn about the Kurdish people and their leaders, key cities in Northern Iraq and the potential for conflict with Turkey.
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Battle For Iraq
The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
Several F-16 warplanes loaded with bombs took off from an air base in southeastern city of Diyarbakir, private Dogan news agency and local reporters said.
There were no reports of a large-scale land invasion into Iraq.
Turkish artillery units have been shelling rebel positions as recently as Tuesday night in northern Iraq after a rebel ambush Sunday that killed 12 soldiers near the border, a government official said. He did not say which areas were targeted and refused to give further information. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Turkey delivered a tough message to Iraq and Western allies Tuesday: A cross-border attack on Kurd guerrilla bases is coming unless the U.S.-backed government in the Iraqi north cracks down soon.
"We cannot wait forever," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned during a visit to London, saying his government had no choice but to consider "the military dimension."
As Erdogan's government launched the diplomatic offensive in hopes of avoiding a conflict that could damage its ties with the West as well as Arab states, the looming possibility of a Turkish military drive into one of Iraq's few peaceful regions appeared to be having an impact.
Washington issued its most direct demand yet for anti-rebel measures from Iraqi Kurds who hold effective autonomy over territory where the Turkish Kurd rebels have camps, and Iraq's prime minister ordered the closure of all of the guerrilla movement's offices in Iraq.
Turks have grown skeptical of repeated pledges from the U.S. and Iraq to tackle the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, the PKK, so Erdogan went to London and his Cabinet ministers spread across the Middle East seeking to turn up the heat on the Americans and Iraqis to act.
Iraq's interior minister attended a meeting in Kuwait of his counterparts from the region Tuesday - a gathering which yielded a joint statement condemning an attack two days earlier on Turkish troops by Kurdish rebels.
The interior ministers of Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Egypt and Iran met to discuss how help stabilize Iraq but ended up also addressing the rising tension on the Turkish and Iraqi borders.
The ministers condemned "all terrorist attacks against the Iraqi people, the Iraqi police... and against the neighboring countries and also condemn the terrorist attack against Turkish troops on October 21," said the meetings final statement, referring to the deaths of 12 soldiers and disappearance of another eight.
Kurdish Iraq is, at the moment, unique. People can go to work without expecting to be blown up on the way. Children can walk to school without fear of being kidnapped. The Kurdish government is even making deals with foreign companies to develop its oil reserves.
So, CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports, the Kurds in northern Iraq have everything to lose by entering into combat with either the PKK, or the Turks. (Special Report)
Sending their well-armed Peshmerga soldiers to battle either group could lead the region into the same kind of violence that has crippled the rest of Iraq.
In other developments:
Meanwhile, the private security firm Blackwater says the deaths of four of its guards in Fallujah, Iraq, three and a-half years ago could not have been avoided.
In a report prepared for the U-S Congress, Blackwater says heavier guns and sturdier trucks would not have saved the team that was brutally killed after being lured by corrupt Iraqi forces into a well-planned ambush.
This conclusion sharply contradicts the findings of a congressional investigation led by House Democrats and a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the families of the four slain guards.
Blackwater is cast in both as an incompetent, penny-pinching outfit that sent an undermanned and poorly equipped detail through Fallujah, a known insurgent stronghold.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 57 CommentsWell, from a Kurdish point of view it makes all the sense in the world even if they get their behinds kicked.
The idea is that once Turkey invades, the Iraqi government will be under pressure to protect their country from an invasion. Kurdistan is part of Iraq, isn''t it?
But if Iraq falters, if it finds excuses not to defend what''s supposed to be part of Iraq, if they do a half donkey job at it, then the Kurds can argue that Iraq doesn''t care about Kurdistan and therefore they have no choice but to separate themselves from Iraq.
The lack of protection from their own government will give fuel to the Kurds'' aspirations to have their own country.
This puts Turkey in a bind and they know it and that''s why there are reports all over the place from Turkey about how angry the entire country is with the US.
How freakig nearsighted can you get? Turks must be asking themselves about Bush and his policies in the Middle East.
Posted by closethippy1
No, They already know Bush''s agenda, to take over the oil fields, there are no other considerations. This is why Turkey can make brazen threats to invade, they know Bush doesn''t care, and the puppet Maliki is unable to do anything, either. This is their opportunity to finish what Saddam, with gas from the CIA, started all those years ago, as they also know the US will make a show of protest, all the while tacitly agreeing with Turkish aims of genocide of the Kurds.
The fun part comes when Turkey fights with Iran over the whole of what used to be Iraq, because the Americans are only interested in the oil wells, and will not try to stand between Turkey and Iran, (unless the US president is even stupider than he has shown himself to be already) because they can sell weapons to both sides.
Gee, yah think all the broken promises the US has made to Iraq has anything to do with their skeptic attitude???
In all seriousness, it would be a DISASTER if Turkey invaded, which they are apparently close to doing. For all you that read the conservative rag''s blather about Turkey not being really serious about invading, better take off the rose colored glasses and skip the Koolaid, cause it is coming. Turkey has been waiting and asking for help with the Kurds for years now and they see the US forces being sent home without solving any of their problems. This should be no surprise!
AND if they do invade, you can forget about troops coming home in Dec or any other time for that matter.
http://thepatriots.us
Please read it carefully and realize the consequences of embarking on yet another undeclared war of aggression for un-American goals based on lies and greed. Colonel Bowman points out that your oaths to defend the Constitution of our nation is from enemies within and without and that any one who gives an illegal order in violation of the highest laws of the land and should be arrested.
This rogue regime in Washington is acting in the interest of a vile oligarchical clique and its actions are anti-thetical to both our Constitution and the interests of the American people.
The enemy is in Washington!
Posted by tomar0317 at 10:59 AM : Oct 24, 2007
Before the incursion of the Turkish Army near the Northern border of Iraq it was the most STABLE part of Iraq. The KURDS have a legitimate right to be, the Turkish administration has been guilty of appalling atrocities against these people, also Saddam committed appalling atrocitities against them. The Kurds are the most understood group of peoples in this conflict and I encourage all who read this to do a little research into the Kurds before making such generalsied statements about them, please.
Posted by ziparmux at 12:27 PM : Oct 24, 2007
meant "least understood", apologies :)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/showdown/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/f
rontline/showdown/
Posted by j-whitman at 12:47 PM : Oct 24, 2007
Just more leftist propoganda from Public TV you''d believe anything they serve up to you.
You can chalk this one ECLUSIVELY up to Nancy Pelosi and friends with their big fat politically motivated mouths
SAYS FASCIST NAZI TERRORISLAM WILL RULE THE WORLD,,,
all nations will bow to iran,,, or iran will make them bow,,,
http://bamapachyderm.com/archives/2007/09/24/mahmoud-ahmadinejad-tourist-in-the-big-apple/
http://themoderatevoice.com/category/politics/foreign/ahmadinejad/
http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/politicalcartoons/ig/Political-Cartoons/Ahmadinejad-s-Comedy-Act.htm
http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/politicalcartoons/ig/Political-Cartoons/No-Homosexuals-Left.htm
http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/politicalcartoons/ig/Political-Cartoons/No-Gay-People-in-Iran.htm
http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/politicalcartoons/ig/Political-Cartoons/Homosexuals-in-Iran.htm
http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/iran/a/mahmoudjokes.htm
A day in the life of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a life of hatred. This is the inside story of the President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the people around him on the day the British Marines and Navy personnel was invite for a fifteen day pay vacation. The question is, "What was on the mind of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3pP0RlAJyOY&mode=related&search=
hahaha the propoganda bull shiite(PBS) station of the far left wingnut demonic-rats stealing tax dollars to keep it afloat,,,
Posted by j-whitman at 01:02 PM : Oct 24, 2007,,,
I hate to say it lars008, but J is right, we know you no matter what screen name you use! You stick out like a sore thumb! LOL
hahaha
Sevres Treaty was rejected by Turkey and has never been signed by US. According to that treaty Istanbul would be under Birtish rule :) Every year millions of British tourists enjoy Istanbul and I have never heard that they demand anything. Get your facts right.
Posted by j-whitman at 01:21 PM : Oct 24, 2007,,,
I went to the link you provided to watch the whole thing but the page is gone! I missed it last night. I wonder why they removed the page? Too controversial? hmmm ...
... As Bush is the greatest thing that could ever have happened to Ossama Bin Laden''s cause, it also helps the cause of Ahmadinejad.
Posted by j-whitman at 01:33 PM : Oct 24, 2007,,,
It doesn''t matter, when you get to their homepage that link is still not active, the full story is gone!
Posted by j-whitman at 01:38 PM : Oct 24, 2007,,,
Go revisit the article, you will see that the link is not working to view the entire story, its says the page is missing!
Public TV is one of the most biased TV channels there is, as bad or worse than CNN. If you don''t believe this then their program the Terror Conection which states Bin Laden was in Iraq at a Terrorist Training graduation for his cohorts in the 1990s must be true. You can''t have it both way
Another day, another U.S. sponsored mass-murder in Iraq.
www.newsday.com/news/printedition/world/ny-woiraq245429863oct24,0,6152483.story
It looks like the CENTCOM ghouls are keeping U.S. military casualties down, by using helicopters to escalate a cowardly mass-murder campaign of Iraqis from the air.
Florida City Tries to Ban Chinese Products
Upset Over Recalls and Political Issues, One City Weighs a Ban on Chinese Goods
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/CreativeConsumer/story?id=3765361&page=1
Representatives of the Ottoman empire (among the losers of WWI) signed the Sevres treaty. It was the Lausanne treaty (1923) that failed to repeat the pledge of autonomy for Kurds, and by then the Ottoman empire had been replaced.
But the pledge had been made to the Kurds by the western powers, especially the British. They don''t call it "perfidious Albion" for nothing. It is you who need the history lesson. "Turkification" was tolerated by the West as Greeks, Armenians and Kurds who lived in Turkey were oppressed for 90 years. I''m told that there are today no more than a few hundred Greeks and no Armenians in Istanbul. See the photos in Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk''s book on the city for the looting of Greek and Armenian residences and businesses as late as the 1950''s or 60''s. Of course, he was clapped in jail for the offense of "insulting Turkishness." The West even tolerated the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. It is a record of Western disgrace.
The Ant and the Grasshopper
In a field one summer''s day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart''s content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.
"Why not come and chat with me," said the Grasshopper, "instead of toiling and moiling in that way?"
"I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant, "and recommend you to do the same."
"Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper; we have got plenty of food at present." But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew:
It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.
http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Aesop/Aesops_Fables/The_Ant_and_the_Grasshopper_p1.html
The US forces have provided PKK terrorists infiltrating Turkey with intelligence information to help them against Turkish military.
News outlets said over 200 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) terrorists carrying heavy machine guns, rocket launchers and anti-aircraft Dushka trespassed into Turkey and launched an attack on a military base in the village of Daghlica.
But the US military reconnaissance satellites and air patrols along the rugged Turkish-Iraqi border declined to inform Turkey''s officials of the PKK penetration.
According to informed sources, US Appache helicopters helped the PKK cross-border raiders flee back into northern Iraq by tipping them off about the Turkish military''s tracking course.
The US had also blocked the Turkish military''s satellite and telecommunication links in the course of the operations, the sources added.
A Turkish soldier, who sustained injuries in the raid, said that Turkish helicopters reached the combat zone three and a half hours later only after the troops had ran out of all their ammunition.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and much of the international community including the US. The group has been blamed for thousands of bombings, assassinations, kidnappings and acts of sabotage for the past two decades.
In Turkey non Muslims are listed as Foreigners
http://www.christiansofiraq.com/turkeychris.html
Three killed in attack on Bible publisher
http://turkeynewz.blogspot.com/
Report: 3 Killed in Attack on Bible Publishing House in Turkey
http://americaninfidelthinks.blogspot.com/
Turkey bible publishers attacked, 3 dead
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=261909
Report: 3 Killed in Attack on Bible Publishing House in Turkey
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,266681,00.html
WHY IS IT NOT ONE MUSLIM COUNTRY GRANTS EQUAL RIGHTS TO NON MUSLIMS???
Being non-Muslim in Islamic nations means ''protection''--and problems.(World: Iraq)
The official term for this right is "dhimmitude." The world''s foremost expert on the subject, Bat Ye''Or, coined the word in 1983 to describe the legal and social condition of Jews and Christians (dhimmis) subjected to Islamic rule. Broadly interpreted, it appears benign: Non-Muslims enjoy a protected status among their Muslims neighbors: But dhimmitude becomes problematic because its supposed safeguards and protections can be withdrawn as selectively as they are applied by rulers or governments of Islamic states.
In Iraq, as in other predominately Muslim states, Christianity has existed side by side with Islam for centuries. For some observers (as well as those who experience it firsthand), the status of Christians is not one of cheery coexistence. Rather, it may be more like the old racial divides in the United States, where blacks lived near, but not integrated into, white society, and where they "kept their place"--separate and unequal.
In a July 24 interview with NCR, Baghdad Archbishop Jean Sleiman, leader of Iraq''s Latin Catholic church, said that in Iraq, "Christians and Muslims can I-live] side by side--but only side by side. Side by side, but not equally. No mixing, no integration."
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-121763784.html
A Turkish soldier, who sustained injuries in the raid, said that Turkish helicopters reached the combat zone three and a half hours later only after the troops had ran out of all their ammunition.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and much of the international community including the US. The group has been blamed for thousands of bombings, assassinations, kidnappings and acts of sabotage for the past two decades.
Posted by kretos at 02:49 PM : Oct 24, 2007
Definitely no true.
Posted by j-whitman at 01:55 PM : Oct 24, 2007
FINALLY WHITNEY ADMITS AL QUAEDA TERROR CONNECTION TO IRAQ
So this is an absolute admission by you WHITNEY that the Public TV report, The Terror Connection, about Saddam training terrorist for Al Quaeda and Bin Laden going to a graduation class in Iraq is absolutley true according to you WHITNEY.
Posted by drummer94 at 07:13 PM : Oct 24, 2007
We were getting Turkey''s cooperation on Iraq and things were under control with the the handling of the PPK, until Pelosi and friends opened their big fat mouths all of ginning 08 votes in the USA. You can talk, make all the excuses, spin it and squirm all you want; this s-c-r-e-w-u-p is all Pelosi''s doing, no trail to anyone else on this one other than perhaps moveon.o-r-g-a-s-m aka SOROS INC..
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