Update on that Turkey Fiasco

by: LT Nixon

Wed Feb 27, 2008 at 12:41:09 PM EST


Operations by Turkish ground forces into northern Iraq to fight the terrorist group PKK continue.  It's very difficult to make sense of what is happening since the only source of information is statements from the Turkish military and a PKK website.  The Turkish military has released some pictures of its army proudly marching through the snow, presumably to go fight terrorists which can be found here on CNN.  I groan and moan when I have to march 100 feet in body armor, so I completely sympathize with these unfortunate souls.  The fact that the Turkish citizens are getting their information solely from the military shows the need for a free press to criticize information from the state.  Al-Jazeera explains:

Turkey's military general staff said another 77 PKK fighters had been killed since Tuesday night, taking the death toll among the PKK to 230 since Turkey's offensive began. The PKK claims that 81 Turkish troops have been killed, but casualty numbers could not be verified.

The fog of war coupled with limited information is making it difficult to make heads or tails of this conflict.  The Iraqi government wants the Turkish troops out, and Gates has urged this operation to wrap up as quickly as possible so they can leave behind this misadventure. But Turkey has put diplomatic pressure aside and stated today that there is "no timetable" for their offensive.  

The lack of diplomatic support, shrugging off criticism from one's allies, and heavy-handed tactics as opposed to less lethal options all sounds a bit too familiar as ThisDudesArmy mentioned earlier this week.  Gates is due to meet officials in Ankara tomorrow and hopefully he can share with our allies what a bad experience we had battling an insurgency during the early days of OIF.  The Kurds and Turks are both allies of ours, and it certainly wouldn't be good for the region if the Peshmerga stepped in to intervene.  Next thing we'll be hearing is the Turkish Prime Minister talking about staying for a 100 years in Iraq if required. I don't like where this is going.

LT Nixon :: Update on that Turkey Fiasco
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Lots of luck to SecDef Gates (4.00 / 1)
I really respect SecDef Gates, but I don't envy his job right now. Given the obvious facts of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, he's not likely to win any arguments with the Turks.

Then again (0.00 / 0)
I still think that no information at all is better than information from al Jazeera. That and we are still screwing up in Kosovo big time, which to me is inexcusable.

CNN... (0.00 / 0)
...has been covering quite a bit of the Turkey cross-border operation if Al Jazeera doesn't suit your fancy (at least CNN-intl has).  It's hard to get much except a shot of some mountains and a convoy rolling by though.  I wonder what's going on in the mountains south of the Turkish-Iraq border, your guess is as good as mine...

[ Parent ]
Al Jazeera is not that bad... (0.00 / 0)
... I found their correspondents to be the most professional and balanced during my encounters with the media in 2003.  Some like Fox News wanted to depict Baghdad as out of control in May (it really wasn't, at the time - really!), and others like NBC were trying to make it look like the "liberation" was a complete success and the Iraqis were stepping up to take control of their country (it wasn't and they weren't).

The published stories of the Al Jazeera reporters I escorted or talked to told things like they were (Baghdad by and large was secure, looters really fucked things up, the CPA has not announced any coherent strategy going forward....)


[ Parent ]
Yeah (0.00 / 0)
but al Jazeera really killed us during the first battle of Fallujah. Although, I blame alot of that on our politicians as well for making knee-jerk decisions before getting the story straight.

[ Parent ]
Man (0.00 / 0)
We could sure use help right now.

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