Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, is wavering in his commitment to send troops to Iraq because he has not received firm assurances from the US that it will round up secessionist Kurds hiding in northern Iraq. General James Jones, commander of US forces in Europe, visited Turkey earlier this month to discuss the possible deployment of about 10,000 soldiers, but Mr Erdogan has continued to insist an agreement on Kurdish Workers party (PKK) separatists should be part of any deal.
Hmmm the war on terror includes only Taliban and everyone who is not with the Bush regime
| Krazed Killers are krazed killers, regardless of what they call themselves. Wipe them all out. |
"This is the key to the whole troop deployment business," the official said. "If the Americans do something about the PKK, the problem can be unlocked." Turkey is one of four countries Washington has been soliciting for a 10,000-strong division to take over from the 101st Airborne in central Iraq. Colin Powell, US secretary of state, admitted at the weekend that the US had given up on one of the countries, India, and Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s president, last week indicated that hostile domestic opinion made it unlikely he could commit troops other than as part of a UN-endorsed Muslim force.
Call’m lovers of the dictatorial Saddam regime (damn Pakis and Indies for not following the American just cause: oil Liberation
| I'm glad in both cases. Having the Indos and the Paks patrolling the same territory doesn't make sense to me. Having the Paks in presents a mechanism to introduce even more religious nut-casery. I'm not too happy about having the Turks in — the Kurds don't like them, for reasons both valid and invalid, and the Kurds are the only party in Iraq that seem to wear their thinking hats regularly. Certainly they're the only group that's taken to democracy and free enterprise and are giving individual liberty a try... |
South Korea, the fourth country approached, is weighing the request.
| I think they're too scared of Kimmy to actually do anything. I wonder why we haven't asked Taiwan for troops? |
Senior US generals have said the Pentagon will be forced to call up additional reserves to replace the 101st if no additional international troops were committed soon.
| That's the most painful course for us, but in the long run it's the best course... |
On Friday, Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of defence, mobilised two army national guard brigades, or about 10,000 troops, for service in Iraq. The army said it had notified another brigade it could be activated as well. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, published on Monday, Abdullah Gul, Turkish foreign minister, said he was optimistic about a Turkish deployment.
Heheh, yeah me too
However, the official said on Monday: "Let us not forget that it is not only the Americans who have demands; we have demands too. The Americans must deliver on the PKK/KADEK terrorists Kurds."
| So far we've been juggling krazed killer Sunnis in central Iraq, Moqtada Sadr and his nut-case followers, Iranian spies and saboteurs, jihadis from Syria, Soddy Arabia, and any other place that has high level of in-breeding, and Ansar al-Islam remnants; chasing down and either arresting or killing, stuffing and mounting Baathists; shutting down MKO; turning the water and the power back on; burying assassinated government officials — after establishing the government; building an army and a police force from next to scratch... Sure. We'll put the PKK on the list and we'll get around to them... |
Analysts believe that, in addition to the Kurdish issue, Mr Erdogan remains concerned he may not be able to win parliamentary approval for the deployment.
| If not, then tough. It won't be the first time. |
Seven months ago the Turkish assembly rejected the government’s plan to allow US troops to invade Iraq from Turkish bases. "He is not sure he can get a motion through the assembly," said a western diplomat. He was defeated once and cannot risk a second defeat. There is still no agreement with the Americans over the conditions under which Turkish troops will operate once they are in Iraq."
| If it's not worth it, don't push it... |
A recent loan agreement signed between the US and Turkey includes provisions ensuring Turkey’s co-operation on Iraq, according to US embassy officials in Ankara.
| Ted Kennedy describes it as a bribe... |
Although US officials said Turkish peacekeepers were not a condition for determining Turkish co-operation, a local Turkish newspaper reported it had obtained documents which showed Ankara had promised not to intervene unilaterally in northern Iraq. |