Turkish Warplanes Bomb Kurdish Positions

No Word Of Rebel Casualties As Turkey Bomb Positions Inside Iraq Border

(AP)  Turkish fighter jets bombed Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq on Sunday, a spokesman for security forces in the Kurdish-run region said.

The spokesman, Jabar Yawar, said the jets bombed an area about 50 miles north of Irbil near the border with Turkey for about an hour and a half. He said there were no civilian casualties because the area was deserted due to a fear of Turkish attacks.

Yawar said he did not know whether any Kurdish rebels had been killed.

Turkish authorities were not immediately available to discuss any military operations Sunday.

On Saturday, Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq in the third confirmed cross-border offensive by Turkish forces in less than a week, the military said.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, has fought for autonomy in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast since 1984. The group is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

After a surge in attacks by the rebels, some of whom are based in northern Iraq, Turkey said it would tolerate no more PKK attacks. The Parliament voted to allow the military to strike rebel hideouts and camps across the Iraqi border.

The U.S. and Iraq have asked Turkey to show restraint in its response to the guerrillas, fearing that a large Turkish incursion could destabilize what has been Iraq's most stable area.

Turkish forces have shelled across the border periodically, and sometimes have carried out "hot pursuits" - limited raids on the Iraqi side that last only a few hours.

In a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Nov. 5, President Bush declared the PKK a "common enemy," and promised to share intelligence on the rebel group.

Washington has been providing Turkey with intelligence, and a "coordination center" has been set up in Ankara so Turks, Iraqis and Americans can share information.

The first confirmed air assault by Turkish forces in Iraq came on Dec. 16, when up to 50 Turkish warplanes entered Iraqi air space and bombed suspected PKK targets, prompting Iraqi officials' to complain that Turkey's actions were a violation of Iraqi sovereignty. Still, they have said they recognize the threat posed by the PKK.

The military said Saturday that "hundreds" of Kurdish guerrillas had been killed in that operation and in an incursion into Iraq by Turkish land forces two days later.

On Saturday, Turkish jets bombed rebel targets inside Iraq for half an hour, following up by shelling the area from inside Turkish border. It was the third confirmed cross-border operation in less than a week by the Turkish forces.

[missingamerica]

Bush''s Administration surely is creative...who else in history has managed to invade a nation, declare "victory", spend years subsequent to that declaration getting shot up in that same nation, and then manage to get parts of that newly "friendly" nation shot up by yet another "friendly" nation?

It is like leadership as defined by "Mad Magazine"...

[downtowner97]

A prophet by the name of D1ck Cheney predicted this in a TV interview 1994. Watch the video on Youtube.

[tbweb]

The "surge" of additional U.S. Forces into Iraq was a military success. The point of the "surge" was to buy time for an Iraqi Political reconciliation that is so slow, so ineffective, its not even worth mentioning. Iraq''s leadership is starting to see whats happening and paying the price for dragging its feet with Iranian influence and now an attack by Turkey over its borders and its inability to respond! If this doesn''t get the Iraqi''s moving on reconciling their differences nothing will. The sharks are circling around Iraq and smelling blood in the water!

[flagship-usa]

Iraqi sovereignty...Is that a joke? There are/is an international military presence in Iraq. I''m sure this was all cleared with The White House prior to the attack. The Kurdish group is considered a terrorist organization? "Destabilize what has been Iraq''s most stable area". Why would anyone won''t to attack a territory that is full of terrorist: and stabilized? Gee...maybe we should let The Terrorist occupy Iraq?

[blancadebree]

I love the way the Decider brought peace to the Middle East.

http://blancadebree.blogspot.com

[brianbwb-2009]

"No Word Of Rebel Casualties As Turkey Bomb Positions Inside Iraq Border"

By this M.O., we know for certain now that this is a Bush/Cheney sponsored act, "We don''t count the enemy dead", remember that one?

They don''t count the dead, so that the true extent of their crime, and the resulting responsibility and ability to determine appropriate sanctions can be better obfuscated.

[brianbwb-2009]

It is like leadership as defined by "Mad Magazine"...
Posted by ibsteve2u

Why Steve, how dare you insult the writers of one of America''s greatest humor publications, they could, without even waking up, do far better than the Bush administration, and be funny besides...

[motherhen11]

They''re just nutty as Christmas fruitcakes over there, aren''t they?

[antoniof123]

It is starting and it is going to get better I hope the American people remember this for the next 100 years. Don''t ever get fooled again.

[mcvet]

If these Fascist were just honest enough to tell us the truth about these wars. IF this thing in Iraq were about WMD''s then when we found none we should have left these people alone. We had no right to just walk into this nation and take control. We ONCE had a nation that BELIEVED it was the responsibility of the people who LIVED in a nation to decide these things for themselves, now we, the Tax Payer has even more to bear. Put that together with the fact that ALL our Industry has moved away, jobs needed to pay the bill along with them, we are going to be bankrupt in a few years. Sieg Heil Bush.

[mcvet]

Iraqi sovereignty...Is that a joke? There are/is an international military presence in Iraq. I''''m sure this was all cleared with The White House prior to the attack. The Kurdish group is considered a terrorist organization? "Destabilize what has been Iraq''''s most stable area". Why would anyone won''''t to attack a territory that is full of terrorist: and stabilized? Gee...maybe we should let The Terrorist occupy Iraq?


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by flagShip-usa at 08:03 PM : Dec 23, 2007
+ report abuse

Maybe you fascist should MIND your OWN DAMNED business! This nation was ATTACKED and a PERSON, regardless of their RELIGION, attacked us. We should take care of the GUILTY one''s and then work with the rest of the World to deal with the PROBLEM. You clowns are going to get us all killed!! You people have accomplished NOTHING with your policy and plan. Maybe it''s time we listened to REASON here.