U.S. forces withdrew from a logistics base near the Iraqi border Sunday after Washington abandoned plans to send ground troops into northern Iraq from Turkey. Jeeps, trucks and other military equipment were being hauled out of the small base near Nusaybin on flatbed trucks. The base is about 75 miles from the Iraqi border in Turkey's southeast. U.S. officials said Sunday that troops were being withdrawn because they had completed their work at Nusaybin. Dozens of ships carrying weaponry to Turkish bases were redirected to the Army's 4th Infantry division to the Persian Gulf, officials had said Saturday.
The troops are among some 3,500 American personnel who arrived in Turkey last month to set up a string of logistics bases between southern Turkish ports and bases and the Iraq border. Washington had hoped to move heavy armored forces and ground troops into northern Iraq from bases in Turkey but abandoned the plan Saturday after weeks of wrangling with Ankara. Turkey granted overflight rights on Friday, and coalition forces used Turkish airspace overnight Saturday to put insert some forces into northern Iraq, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on ABC's "This Week." But relations have also been strained over Turkey's plan to send its own troops into northern Iraq. Ankara fears that instability in northern Iraq could encourage rebels to create an independent Kurdish state or lead to a massive flight of refugees.
In Nusaybin, flatbed trucks were headed toward the town of Kiziltepe, apparently destined for another base camp further inside Turkey. The Anatolia news agency said the trucks would eventually make their way to the Mediterranean port of Iskenderun. U.S. troops also were spotted removing equipment from flatbed trucks in Iskenderun, where the U.S. military has unloaded hundreds of jeeps, trucks, medical vans and fuel-haulers, the private NTV television station said.
Goodbye, see you in Kurdistan. |