ISTANBUL, Turkey — "Turkey moved closer to opening a new front in the Iraq war Monday, with the government asking parliament to approve a cross-border offensive against Kurdish rebels. Still, its leaders were reluctant to stage an incursion that could hurt Turkey's standing with Washington.

Parliament was widely expected to authorize the Cabinet's motion seeking authorization for a military campaign in northern Iraq, and NTV television said a vote would happen Wednesday.

But government spokesman Cemil Cicek indicated the government would not immediately order its troops across the border, possibly to see if the United States and Iraq attempt to crack down on the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, known by its Kurdish acronym PKK...."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What effect will this have on American politics??

I don't know why Bush should complain. It would be exactly what he did. Terrorist attack, strike back. What's Bush going to do, cut off our supply route to Iraq? That's the hold for Turkey if Bush pushes back.

I think the US will respond the same way we have responded to Iranian military incursions into Kurdistan last month . We will do nothing overt.

Iran Moves Against PJAK in Northern Iraq

All the more reason why the idiot Pelosi's folly could not have come at the worse time. The Dems want the troops to get IED protected vehicles. Where do they think those supplies get transported from ?

This morning I am thinking of writing to the Congressman who unfortunately represents my area since the districts were remapped in 2003 ;Rep. Elliot Engel .(I had been represented by one of the best ;Benjamin Gilman ) Engel was quoted this week as saying "Genocide is genocide, and there's no way of sugarcoating it" .


I'm still trying to digest the implications of the sheer folly of the timing of Speaker Pelosi's push for a resolution against Turkey. The Democrats could not look at potential success in the eye without spitting at it .

I just cannot understand it.We as a country have already made our position on the slaughter of the Armenians part of the public record.

U.S. House of Representatives Joint Resolution 148

This is just pile-on . Should Turkey then turn around and condemn a century of US genocide of Native Americans ? Maybe we should mention the sacking of Constantinople while we are at it .

Yes it does vividly illustrate the conflict between idealism and realism .But the Democrats have recently embraced realpolitik solutions to the region like the Baker-Hamilton report ,and regional summits . Does Pelosi then propose to turn a potential stabilizing power in the region against us while at the same time wine and dine with a nut job like President Assad of Syria all the while complaining that our foreign policy has undermined relations with our allies ?

How would stoking the fire under Turkey at a time that they are contemplating an incursion into Kurdistan be stabilizing ?

I have to be kind and just question her poor judgment .Nope ;can't read any sinister political motives into any of the actions on Capitol Hill .

UPDATE

As Dark Crow posted on a previous posting ,there has emerged an apparent entente with Turkey and Iran over this issue and joint military actions have been taking place (mostly shelling into Kurdistan and cross border incursions) since at least the beginning iof August.

The Iranians launched a rather unsuccessful ground incursion Aug. 16-24 which resulted in 200 Revolutionary Guard deaths .PJAK has also conducted raids into Iran Sept. 10 against a Revolutionary Guards base near Shaho, in northwestern Iran.

I expect the Turks will have better results as they have been figting counter-insugency battles with the Kurds for 30 years .

The question is less one of how Turkey's invasion of Iraq will affect American politics as how America's politics have affected Turkey's decision to invade Iraq.

For some stupid, strange, idiotic reason, the House of Representatives, led by Speaker Pelosi, has decided to issue a proclamation condemning Turkey for the Armenian masacre in 1915. Yes, it was a tragedy and a horror. Yes, we must never forget the incident. It was an attempted genocide. But why issue a proclamation NOW? Reagan refused to do it because of bad timing. Clinton refused to do it because of bad timing. Why do it right now when we need Turkey to be working with us, not against us? And against the advice if the President as well? After all the talk of improper "cowboy diplomacy" by George Bush, and how Bush's diplomacy has driven away our friends, why would the House issue a declaration that is designed to drive Turkey away from us?

From my perspective, what happened was that Bush was starting to see gains in Iraq. The Dems in Congress couldn't stop that, and couldn't reverse it. So they had to do something that will hinder progress in Iraq. Driving Turkey into opposition from us was what they chose. That will certainly slow up the progress in Iraq in several ways. Without Iraqi support and permission, it will be hard to resupply our troops in Iraq, since we generally fly over Turkish airspace. Also, US bases in Turkey support the effort in Iraq, and without those bases, that support is gone. And third, if we have to worry about a border war between Iraq and Turkey over and above everything else, it's going to make the entire war effort tougher. And it seems that the House Dems are getting what they want.

So it seems to me that American partisan politics, and an attempt to make Bush look bad, has driven Turkish policy, not the other way around.

Elliot

I'm going to dub the coming conflagration the Pelosi-ponnesian wars

My concerns were on target:
“Iran and Turkey attacked jointly on August 16 against our forces inside Iran and against Turkish self-defense forces in northern Iraq,” a PJAK commander using the nom de guerre Xerat told Newsmax at the Iranian rebel base.

“U.S. ally Turkey and U.S. arch-enemy Iran have formed a military alliance to drive opposition Kurds from bases in northern Iraq they have used since 2004 to launch guerrilla operations inside Iran, rebel leaders told Newsmax at a secret base in the Qandil mountains.
Both Iran and Turkey have vowed to send troops into northern Iraq, but until now evidence of active military cooperation between them has remained a closely-held secret.
“Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stepped up political and diplomatic threats in recent days, telling the United States he would cut off U.S. access to the strategic Incirlik airbase in eastern Turkey if the U.S. tried to prevent Turkey from sending troops against the Kurdish bases in northern Iraq.”

Turkey Forms Alliance With Iran Against Kurds - NewsMax - America's News Page

The PKK rocks! They really like all of the American made weapons they have received. Let Turkey do what it will. Everything is going as planned. You see, the Leader of Iran thinks he is the one, appointed by god to start Armageddon. The thing is, the leader of America thinks he is the one, appointed by GOD to start Armageddon also. So you see, they are all mad and it is too late.