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| Iraq |
| Turkey U.S. troops vote hits hitch |
| 2003-02-25 |
Turkish and U.S. officials have failed to agree on the details of a deal to deploy tens of thousands of American troops during overnight talks, likely delaying a parliamentary vote authorizing the move.  U.S. soldiers stand next to vehicles in the Turkish port of Iskenderun on Monday as equipment is offloaded. Stange, I thought agreements had been reached, it seems negotiation are still continueing, but in the meantime after the âTellusâ and âAntaresâ, three more ships docked in Iskenderun: cargo ship âCappellaâ and Ro-Ro ships âGuteâ and âRozanoâ |
| Posted by:Murat |
| #8 Did a little searching. MV Tellus is a Ro-Ro DoD contract ship. Capella and Antares are SL-7 Type Fast Sealift ships, homeported in Baltimore. No info on the Gute or Rozano yet. Most likely they are Ro-Ro ships under contract, possibly coming from european ports. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-02-25 12:01:22 |
| #7 know what I think? I think these are there just in case we need them....It takes much longer to unload the equipment than it does troops. That way, Sadaam can't take it for granted - he has to prepare even if he thinks it's all for show. He's damned if does and damned if he doesn't. |
| Posted by: becky 2003-02-25 11:05:01 |
| #6 I think we're in two-weeks mode, and will continue to be until it actually starts. |
| Posted by: Dishman 2003-02-25 10:49:23 |
| #5 I suspected this would happen, otherwise we would have had an answer weeks ago. I hope, hope, hope this drama is planned. If we are kept guessing, so is Sadaam. Maybe we will, maybe we won't. I'm sure Sadaam hasn't forgotten our huge amphibious landing during GWI. heh, heh, heh. And that's the point, isn't it? Only time will tell. |
| Posted by: becky 2003-02-25 10:47:33 |
| #4 Relax people. This is to keep Sammy guessing to forestall any decisions on an attack against Turkey. The action will begin when there are 250K troops ready (if not more). That will happen some time by the end of March. |
| Posted by: RW 2003-02-25 10:24:24 |
| #3 I've got an even better one. Let all of the equipment get offloaded and moved, then refuse to let the US use it. I bet that would be worth an EU membership. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-02-25 09:31:05 |
| #2 It seems likely that the problem is no longer about having permission to unload the ships. The hitch is in allowing U.S. troops to mate up with the equipment and begin heading to the border. Actually, from the Turkish point of view, allowing the equipment to offload strenghtens their hand a bit. Reloading the equipment would take time, and I think time is getting short. So the presence of unloaded equipment actually increases pressure on us to make a better deal with the Turks so we can get going. |
| Posted by: Patrick Phillips 2003-02-25 09:20:57 |
| #1 Geraldo Rivera was on Fox this AM with background video showing the Cappella (a US military cargo ship) as well as the Roseanne docked and unloading, and said there was another coming in, so this is right on the money |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-02-25 08:45:28 |