Turkish onslaught paves way for major assault on Iraq Kurds

[cal04]

Jason Burke
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/24/turkey.iraq

Turkish forces used jets and heavy artillery to pound the bases of Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq yesterday, as a prelude to a major assault in the coming days. Turkish news agencies reported more troops moving towards the remote border area.

Military spokesmen in Ankara claimed that seven of its troops and 79 rebels from the nationalist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) had been killed in fierce fighting yesterday and overnight.

The PKK claimed that Turkish losses outnumber its own. 'After clashes yesterday ... 22 Turkish soldiers were killed. Not more than five PKK soldiers were wounded,' Ahmed Danees, head of foreign relations for the PKK, said, talking by satellite phone from an undisclosed location.

With the fighting taking place in the snowbound Qandil mountains, which straddle the Iraqi-Turkish border, verification of the conflicting estimates was difficult. Turkey is thought to have deployed 1,000-3,000 soldiers and dozens of helicopter gunships in an operation aimed as much at attracting international attention to the continuing presence in Iraq of the PKK, as destroying the group's mountain bases.

(snip)
Turkey's government has complained frequently that the Iraqis are not doing enough to stop guerrilla operations. The Turkish air force has been carrying out air raids on PKK forces in the north since December with the help of intelligence provided by the US, a Nato ally. More than two decades of fighting in southeastern Turkey have claimed as many as 40,000 lives.

[thunder rising]

1. If the US is giving Turks intel ... do we see the Kurds start firing on US Troops?

[Adsos Letter]

2. I suspect the Turks are just trying to keep the PKK off-balance...

prior to a full-on invasion in the spring...when the weather is better.

[Briar]

3. Kurdish "rebels"

eh? I see, these are "our" terrorists, so we must adjust our terminology accordingly. Just as this invasion isn't "ours", so can be attacked as bellicose threats against Pakistan and Iran can't, and as the invasion of Iraq can still be claimed as a moral act by people like Blair, Bush and McCain. This kind of relativism just undermines the west's position - since it turns out that what we do isn't important, just who we are. Since we are superior, sophisticated, civilised, our terrorism, torture, invasions etc are "good" - because we do it. But that strikes me as the greatest evil of all. It means that the powerful can make whatever they do "moral" and deny any protection from their actions to the rest of us.