Turkey snaps over US bombing of its bretheren

[NNN0LHI]

http://fairuse.1accesshost.com/news2/turkey-atimes.html

For the first time since the acrimonious exchange of words in July last year following the arrest and imprisonment of 11 Turkish commandos in Kurdish Iraq, for which Washington expressed "regret", differences erupted publicly this week between North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies Turkey and the US over attacks on Turkey's ethnic cousins, the Turkmens in northern Iraq.

Talking to a Turkish TV channel, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul warned that if the US did not cease its attacks on Tal Afar, a Turkmen city at the junction of Turkey, Iraq and Syria, Ankara might withdraw its support to the US in Iraq.

"I told that what is being done there is harming the civilian population, that it is wrong, and that if it continues, Turkey's cooperation on issues regarding Iraq will come to a total stop." He added, "We will continue to say these things. Of course we will not stop only at words. If necessary, we will not hesitate to do what has to be done."

Turkey is a key US ally in a largely hostile region. US forces use its Incirlik military base near northern Iraq. Turkish firms are also involved heavily in the construction and transport business in Iraq, with hundreds of Turkish vehicles bringing in goods for the US military every day. It is an alternative route through friendly northern Kurdish territory to those from Jordan and Kuwait. But many Turks have been kidnapped by Iraqi insurgent groups and some have been killed.

more

[woofless]

1. I was stationed at Incirlik in '71 and '72.

It was tense at times then. Cannot imagine how it is now. This is an alliance we need to keep sweet.

[UpInArms]

2. here's a related article

from al Jazeera (easy to find US media reporting the bombing of insurgent houses for some "balance")

http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2004%20opinions/September/16%20o/Better%20Off%20Under%20Saddam%20By%20Mike%20Whitney.htm

excerpt:

The magnitude of the current failure is difficult to assess. Most of the northern cities are under rebel control and clashes with the occupation forces are now a daily occurrence.

In Ramadi ten people were killed yesterday alone. In Tal Afar a major siege is taking place that has the city surrounded and at least 60 civilians’ dead already. In Baquba, Sadr City and Najaf the fighting continues unabated. (In Mosul more allegations of prisoner abuse are surfacing) And, in Falluja the US terror campaign of bombing civilian dwellings and then dismissing them as terrorist “safe houses” is ongoing.

Life for the average Iraqi has become increasingly difficult as well. Yesterdays pipeline attack incinerated power lines that “knocked out” 75% of the country’s electrical power; a problem for which there is no immediate “fix.” Similarly, the prospects for supporting one’s family are dismal, since the dramatic shifting to a “free market” economy has eliminated state support systems and produced 75% unemployment.

Security, of course, is the main issue, and the “militarization” of Iraq by the US has done nothing to guarantee that. Every day some new tragedy unfolds and innocent people are either killed or maimed in this reckless mission. As antipathy towards the occupation creates greater unrest, so too, safety for Iraqi civilians will disappear. The Iraqi people face years of random violence and desperation before the conflict will be resolved.

...more at link...

[xchrom]

3. thr u.s. will apologise profusely

and then do what evr it wants -- it's our new foreign policy.
it's working beautifully, isn't it?

[donsu]

5. your right - say one thing but keep doing what they want

nobody has stopped the bloody bushgang from doing whatever they want

[jmcgowanjm]

4. As of Friday, the Turks must still be upset

Battles continue in Tal`afar.

Fighting continues at intermittent intervals in the Tal`afar
area
according to the local correspondent of Mafkarat al-Islam in
the
area reported that US occupation forces continue to
shell populous
residential areas, and that they killed 15 Iraqis in their
shelling
from 4:00am until 4:00pm Friday. The US bombardment
also destroyed
four local homes.

Resistance forces in the Tal`afar area, for their part,
destroyed
two Humvees near the entrance to the city using rocket-
propelled
grenades. Eight American troops were killed in that
attack.

Resistance forces also shot down a US Black Hawk
helicopter using a
C5K, killing the two-man crew.

Hey Jayfish, what's a C5K?




Is it a crime to defend one's country? The Globe could just as easily and accurately describe those taken as "captured", the captors as Iraqi soldiers and those captured as Iraq's enemies. But they chose otherwise. Given the massive Iraqi resistance, these terms would be far more credible than the Globe's implication that they are criminals.