KIRKUK, Iraq, Dec. 18, 2007
Turkish Troops Enter Northern Iraq
Hundreds Of Troops Cross Border For Overnight Operation; Secretary Rice Makes Surprise Visit
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Condoleezza Rice's visit to Kirkuk, in the north of Iraq, comes amidst rising border tensions between Turkey and Kurdish rebels within Iraq. The same day Rice made an unannounced visit, Turkish troops reportedly crossed the Northern Iraq border. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
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A villager walks through rubble in Qlatooka, a village near Iraq's border with Turkey on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2007. Turkish war planes bombed Kurdish rebel targets as far as 60 miles inside northern Iraq for three hours early Sunday, in the largest aerial attack against the outlawed separatist group in recent years. (AP)
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Photo Essay
Turkey-Iraq Tensions
Nation mulls cross-border military incursion into northern Iraq to chase Kurdish rebels.
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Battle For Iraq
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- Iraq Condemns Turkish Airstrikes
The raid came two days after Turkey carried out airstrikes against rebel positions in the Iraqi Kurdish region of northern Iraq, and Turkey claimed it inflicted a "heavy blow" to the rebels.
The incursion of about 300 troops - the first confirmed Turkish ground operation inside Iraq since the U.S. invasion of Iraq - did not represent a large-scale push that some feared could destabilize a relatively calm part of Iraq. In November, the Turkish military reportedly has massed 100,000 troops along the border.
Jamal Abdullah, a spokesman for the regional Kurdistan government, told The Associated Press that the Turkish troops withdrew about 15 hours after entering Iraq about 3 a.m.
Jabar Yawar, a spokesman for Kurdistan's Peshmerga security forces in Irbil, Iraq, told the AP that "today's Turkish military operation was a limited one, and the troops withdrew from Iraqi territory."
Late Tuesday, Turkey's military said it had inflicted heavy losses on a separatist Kurdish rebel group in airstrikes over the weekend and in a "small-scale" incursion by ground forces.
In a statement posted on its Web site, the military said ground forces based close to the border with Iraq, crossed "a few kilometers" into northern Iraq after spotting a group of rebels trying to infiltrate into Turkey. "A heavy blow was dealt to the group," it said.
The Iraqi government had called the incursion an unacceptable action that would lead to "complicated problems."
The incursion came two days after Turkey carried out airstrikes against rebel positions in northern Iraqi on Sunday.
U.S. military commanders in Iraq didn't know Turkey was sending warplanes to bomb in northern Iraq until the planes had already crossed the border, the AP has learned.
Americans have been providing Turkey with intelligence to go after Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. And a "coordination center" has been set up in Ankara so Turks, Iraqis and Americans can share information, two officials said Tuesday.
But commanders and diplomats in Baghdad were angered when they were told of Sunday's attack after it was already under way, defense and diplomatic officials said in Washington and Baghdad.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.
In Other Developments:
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See all 76 CommentsWhich brings me to the failure of Iraq. Conservatives are in denial that the war was unjustified. There were no "weapons of mass destruction" that posed an "imminent threat" to us. Conservatives then argue that, absent the original justification, the war now is justified by some other reason (insert reason here). They just can''t face the truth.
We have no reason to be there right now. What are we waiting for? We have this "lull" and "reduction of violence" but the Iraqi government is no closer to reconciliation today than they were before the "surge". How long are we going to let this war drag out? The U.S. government created an Iraqi government that is a failure. A long endless war with conservatives denying the truth every step of the way.
The final truth is that we live in a democracy where 70% of the population want us to reduce our commitment to Iraq and begin withdrawing troops immediately. Over 50% want us out of there altogether. You can deny the truth for so long, but it will eventually catch up with you.
Haroon Siddique
Friday November 16, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Israeli companies are using UK property shows to sell housing in illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, Guardian Unlimited can reveal.
At the Israel Property Exhibition at Brent town hall, North London last Sunday, one company, Anglo-Saxon Real Estate, was offering for sale properties in Maale Adumim and Maccabim. Both West Bank settlements lie on the Palestinian side of the so-called green line, the pre-1967 boundary and often cited as the border between Israel and a future Palestinian state.
www.guardian.co.uk
Jerusalem (ICRC) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) urges the Israeli authorities to authorise the prompt resumption of visits for families from Gaza with their relatives detained in Israeli prisons.
The visits have been suspended since 6 June 2007, following a decision by the Israeli authorities.
"It is impossible to understand that such a decision is taken solely on security grounds. Family visits to Israeli prisons have been organised for decades. There is no reason for this six-month suspension of family visits for Gaza residents," says Christoph Harnisch, the ICRC''''s Head of Delegation in Tel Aviv.
According to international humanitarian law, detainees have the right to maintain family links, including visits from close relatives.
The ICRC recently distributed warm clothing to the concerned detainees.
With the exception of one prison, Palestinians are detained in prisons located inside Israel. An average of 20,000 family members travel monthly to prisons inside Israel.
In November, the ICRC conducted 32 visits to 15 Israeli places of detention, including interrogation centres, provisional detention centres, police stations and prisons. There are currently over 11,000 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons.
www.icrc.org
If we, in fact, were exercising any real control in Iraq, as the neocons would like one to believe, our officials wouldn''t still be sneaking around making unannounced visits......
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Posted by formrusmcsgt at 06:38 AM : Dec 18, 2007
+ report abuse
LOL Excellent point. They didn''t even have to do that in Nam so I''d say this is YET ANOTHER LIE of the Bush Administration. The fact is that these three distinctly different factions in that nation are not and will not get along, peacefully. They are going to have to have a real good fight and when that''s over MAYBE they settle down and form a Government.
No hard feelings, OK? We agreed to let them do this when they let us use their bases for invading this place.
And to answer the question you all want to ask, Bush doesn''t eat Rice, because Rice eats Bush.
Better call it a "hurricane warning".
"Mission accomplished"...
Neo cons you may have won a battle but I can assure you that when the war is over you will not be in power for years to come.
The storm is growing each day yet you refuse to see it when it comes you will know that we warned you.
Ahh - so if you don''t SEE IT, then it must not be happening. RIIIGGGHHHTTT. Now I got it.
Oh WOW, what a SURPRISE... NOT!
Allow Iraqis to remake their country to their liking.
When the all truths are known about this war, there will be no doubt in even the most shallow minds that it was never about liberty or freedom. It was for "stuff" and gaining more power for already powerful people. They should hang for what they have done, although I can agree to them serving lifeterm in prison. They will thank "liberals" for the Constitution and Bill of Rights then...
Only if Americans demand it will any of these thugs in suits be held accountable for the horrors they have unleashed upon the world. Support Our Troops, Demand Accountability for the lies told to them!
1)Thanks to America Iraqis now have a chance "to make their country to their liking." Sadam would not have allowed it, Al Qaeda would not have allowed it.
2)It''s not all about "stuff" only a truly shallow simplistic mind would believe such tripe.
3)The true thugs who have caused chaos throughout the m world and greater middle east are the radical Islamists, Americans should place blame where it belongs.
4)Liberals are more worried about "losing" this global conflict because of there pascifist politics and their hatred for the president, the irony of this stance is that it puts the constitution at even greater "risk."
I thought everything was ok over there now. I thought it was safer there than in Washington D.C.
U.S. leaders still feel the need to sneek around and drop in unannounced.
Is that what Truman did after VE-Day ? Go to Europe in unannounced, surprise visits ?
You mean Saddam, don"t you ? It"s not a difficult name to spell correctly.
If the Iraqis didn"t like Saddam they should have overthrown him. As far as I know they didn"t even try. Maybe they liked the modernization of the Iraqi medical and educational systems he provided.
Thanks to intervention by Big Government in Washington, you mean.
Yeah, Iraqis were helpless until those U.S. troops showed up and said, "We"re from the Government and we"re here to help you."
BIG WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT is not the answer to every problem in every society on the face of the earth.
That is the ultimate Welfare State mentality.
The Armed Forces oof America exist primarily to defend the people and the Constitution of the United States.
Not to impose welfare on the rest of the world.
That"ll teach you to mock spelling errors.
Except for ALBANIA (which for some unknown reason thinks of him as a hero), The Great Emperor Bush II is the first Emperor of the USSA to have gotten most of the entire world mad at us, and mad at everyone else! Everywhere you go, everyone is mad at everyone else especially within the USSA, where no one has a kind word to say about anyone.
This, of course is all part of the Emperor''s strategy which goes something like "by dividing, I conquer". No one can argue that the Great Emperor Bush has surpassed himself on dividing everyone, but the jury is still out on him "conquering". So far, the only "conquests" the Emperor has had has been with the evil cowardly Whimp-ocrats in Congress who have proved to be only a minor threat!
Still, the Emperor is upset with Turkey for crossing over the line into HIS country, and it will be interesting to see how mad he gets the Turks at us!
SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!
They thought he was Al Gore when he visited there.
They never got the update on the 2000 election.
Kind of an out of the way place. Bad news services.
Posted by FloydZepp at 12:02 PM : Dec 18, 2007
Trying the old neo con divide again. Hey hillaryin08 your name may just prove to be true quicker than you think she will most likely win and to really throw salt in the wound Obama will be Vice President or the other way around but who cares as long as it is not another neo con.
You can bet Bushit won''t, the TExass Air Guard doesn''t fly further than Mexico!
- Posted by hillaryin08 at 12:06 PM : Dec 18, 2007
Congress did.
As Congress" approval rating sinks to a new low.
In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll released Monday, 68% disapprove of Republicans in Congress; only 26% approve.
Democrats do better, but not by much.
64% disapprove of Democrats in Congress; 30% approve.
Source:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2007-12-17-congresspoll_N.htm?csp=34
This is happening with US help and support, and one has to wonder what Baghdatd thinks about it. Not well!!
Another example of the badly managed foreign policy of shrub. I read where he is obessed with his legacy. Hummm, I wonder if he is ready to have a Turk - Iraq war added to his list of unnecessary wars?
reps are hoping that the absymal Congress ratings are going to mean a return of control to the Reps.
I don''t think so. When polled, America blames to reps for blocking bills we want. By a 2:1 margin, the reps are blamed.
Congress dem incumbants may have a fight to keep their seats, but it won''t be from a rep. It will be from another dem.
I think 2008 is going to be one of those watershed elections that happen every generation or so. Both the whitehouse and congress is going to be swept away and new faces replacing them. People who will do what we want!
Re: "Americans have been providing Turkey with intelligence to go after Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq."
Obviously, the installed puppet-government of Iraq lacks either legitimacy or sovereignty.
I guess that makes your brother al-Sadr, whose party control a majority in the government part of the puppet show? That means al-Sadr is rally working for the Americans. Which means his Iranian ties are also working for America. Amazing. You know much more than the rest of the world, please tell us more
www.myspace.com/worldpeacerally2008
Get on board folks, get on board!
no slash, no n
see if this comes out--
More Bu$h victory in Iraq today:
Baghdad
Around 8,15 am, an IED exploded near the rare gate of Mustansiriyah University in Waziriyah neighborhood east Baghdad.
Around 9,00 am, an IED exploded in Al Amirat Street in Mnsour neighborhood west Baghdad.
Three people (an Iraqi soldier and two civilians were wounded when mortar shell hit Al Shurta tunnel neighborhood west Baghdad around 10,00 am.
Four people were killed (1 national police member and 3 civilians) and seven others wounded (2 national police members and 5 civilians) in a parked car bomb in Al Nidhal Street downtown Baghdad around 2,00 pm.
Dean of al-Ma''moun college, Mohammed Abdulhasen al-Mayahi, was shot dead by gunmen as he got out of his car in front of his home in Qadisiyah neighbourhood, central Baghdad at 06:30 pm. The gunmen, in a civilian vehicle, used silencers.
(Blackwater? Mossad?)
5 unidentified bodies were found in Baghdad by Iraqi Police today. 1 in Shaab, 2 in Slaikh, 1 in Doura and 1 in Saidiyah.
Diyala
A suicide car bomb targeted a police check point downtown Baquba city north of Baghdad around 1,00 pm
16 killed and 24 injured in explosion...10 km to the north of Baquba at around 07:00 pm.
www.mcclatchydc.com/212/story/23343.html
Plus, the Bush regime has already "martyred" another 15 "coalition" troops this month, in their illegal Iraq war of choice.
Smell that? That''s Bushfreedom!
However, the Turks are not to be trifled with. In Korean War the Turks caught a Korean thief in their camp. They drove a steel rod through his ears and hoisted the thief up on a flagpole to twist in the wind. They don''t play. There''s lots of other good stories, but that was a long time ago.
8.
And all of you leftists Osama/lovers brainwashed_by_democrats_antiwar_propaga
nda_in_the_past_6_years, this is a boring story to comment. Ever since we won the war in Iraq there hasnt been any article worth to be discussed.
BaghdadsHere,
I''ve told you before: if I am in need of the unsupported blather of a former Saddam employee, now living in Brazil, with an insatiable appetite for the taste of boot/arse, I''ll let you know.
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December 18, 2007 6:09 PM
ABC News'' Jonathan Karl and Luis Martinez Reports: This afternoon the Pentagon issued the most comprehensive official portrait of the improving situation in Iraq. And it''s not just about security. There has also been significant improvement in the economy, government services and political reconciliation.
FellFree1....Heres an article worth to be commented.
Re: "In Baghdad, some Shiite residents in the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Dora said U.S.-backed security volunteers were trying to drive them out of their neighborhoods."
The Bush regime death-squads and ethnic cleansing campaign still running smoothly, it appears.
Re: "The volunteers, also known as awakening councils, are groups of Iraqi Sunnis that the U.S. military has backed to help fight al Qaeda in Iraq and its allies."
Iraqis who get duped into participating in these U.S. backed death-squads, under the guise of battling fictional groups like "al-Qaeda-in-Iraq", will undoubtedly find themselves betrayed by the Bush regime sooner or later.
Re: "In London, a British Defense Ministry report said Britain has failed to meet its own targets for reducing violence in Iraq."
That''s putting it rather mildly. By most accounts, the British forces were defeated, and forced to retreat from Basra, by the armed Iraqi resistance.
Re: "In an overnight raid, about 250 Iraqi police raided three villages near Hawija, 50 kilometers south west of Kirkuk and 150 miles north of Baghdad in an operation against suspected al Qaeda in Iraq militants, said provincial police chief Brig. Sarhat Qadir. The six-hour raid captured 12 al Qaeda in Iraq suspects as well as another eight people"
Yet another faith-based ghost chase, resulting in the imprisonment and likely torture of even more Iraqi civilians.
Posted by FeelFree1 at 07:42 PM : Dec 18, 2007
FellFree1.....Are you kidding girl/boy/both? Iraq resistance in Basra ha,ha,ha,ha,ha. The British troops went home because they didnt have no more insurgents/terrorists to fight. Wake up baby.
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December 18, 2007 6:09 PM
ABC News'''' Jonathan Karl and Luis Martinez Reports: This afternoon the Pentagon issued the most comprehensive official portrait of the improving situation in Iraq. And it''''s not just about security. There has also been significant improvement in the economy, government services and political reconciliation.
FellFree1....Heres an article worth to be commented.
Re: "A car bomb targeting a police patrol exploded in central Baghad Tuesday afternoon."
More Bu$h freedom and Pentagram "victory".
We can be pretty sure that the Bush regime death-squads in Iraq will backfire, sooner or later.
robertkjjj,
Re: "Yep, FeelFree1 is definitely not only not an American, but he is a Muslim. FeelFree1 is almost certainly working for al-Qaeda..."
It seems to be very important to the remaining Bush dead-enders to believe this about dissenters.
Why is that?
Is your position now so weak that you have only empty character attacks and your imagination as a rebuttal?
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