S
Sid9
Guest
Plan to help Turkey hit Kurds shows Bush hasn't learned
July 30, 2007
ROBERT NOVAK
The morass in Iraq and deepening difficulties in Afghanistan have not
deterred the Bush administration from taking on a dangerous and questionable
new secret operation. At a high level, U.S. officials are working with their
Turkish counterparts on a joint military operation to suppress Kurdish
guerrillas and capture their leaders. Through covert activity, their goal is
to forestall Turkey from invading Iraq.
While detailed operational plans are necessarily concealed, broad outlines
have been presented to selected members of Congress as required by law. U.S.
Special Forces are to work with the Turkish army to suppress the Kurds'
guerrilla campaign. The administration is trying to prevent opening another
war front in Iraq that would have disastrous consequences. But this gamble
risks major exposure and failure.
The Turkish initiative reflects the temperament and personality of George W.
Bush. Even faithful congressional supporters of his Iraq policy have been
stunned by the president's upbeat mood, oblivious to the loss of his
political base. Despite the failing effort to impose a military solution in
Iraq, he is willing to try imposing arms -- though clandestinely -- on
Turkey's ancient problems with its Kurdish minority, comprising one-fifth of
the country's population.
The development of an autonomous Kurdish entity inside Iraq, resulting from
the decline and fall of Saddam Hussein, has alarmed the Turkish government.
That led to Ankara's refusal to permit entry of U.S. combat troops through
Turkey into Iraq, an 11th hour complication for the 2003 invasion. As
political power grew for the Kurds inside Iraq, the Turkish government
became steadily more uneasy about the centuries-old project of a Kurdistan
spreading across international boundaries -- and chewing up big pieces of
Turkey.
The dormant PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) Turkish Kurd guerrilla fighters
came to life. By June, the Turkish government was demonstrating its concern
by lobbing artillery shells across the border. Ankara began protesting, to
both Washington and Baghdad, that the PKK was using northern Iraq as a base
for guerrilla operations. On July 11 in Washington, Turkish Ambassador Nabi
Sensoy became the first Turkish official to claim publicly that the Iraqi
Kurds have claims on Turkish territory. On July 20 (two days before his
successful re-election), Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
threatened a trans-border military incursion into Iraq against the Kurds. On
July 25, Murat Karayilan, head of the PKK Political Council, predicted "the
Turkish army will attack southern Kurdistan."
Turkey has a well-trained, well-equipped army of 250,000 near the border,
facing some 4,000 PKK fighters hiding in the mountains of northern Iraq. But
significant cross-border operations surely would bring to the PKK's side the
military forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government, the best U.S. ally in
Iraq. What is Washington to do in the dilemma of two friends battling each
other on an unwanted new front in Iraq?
The surprising answer was given in secret briefings on Capitol Hill last
week by Eric S. Edelman, a former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney and now
undersecretary of defense for policy. A Foreign Service officer who once was
U.S. ambassador to Turkey, he revealed to lawmakers plans for a covert
operation of U.S. Special Forces helping the Turks neutralize the PKK. They
would behead the guerrilla organization by helping Turkey get rid of PKK
leaders that they have targeted for years.
Edelman's listeners were stunned. Wasn't this risky? He responded he was
sure of success, adding that the U.S. role could be concealed and always
would be denied. Even if all this is true, some of the briefed lawmakers
left wondering whether this was a wise policy for handling the beleaguered
Kurds who had been betrayed so often by U.S. governments in years past.
Hard experience has not dissuaded President Bush from difficult ventures
employing the use of force. On the contrary, two of the most intrepid
supporters of the Iraq intervention -- John McCain and Lindsey Graham --
were surprised by Bush during a recent meeting with him. In sharing their
impressions with colleagues, they commented on how unconcerned the president
seemed. That may explain his willingness to embark on such a questionable
venture against the Kurds.
July 30, 2007
ROBERT NOVAK
The morass in Iraq and deepening difficulties in Afghanistan have not
deterred the Bush administration from taking on a dangerous and questionable
new secret operation. At a high level, U.S. officials are working with their
Turkish counterparts on a joint military operation to suppress Kurdish
guerrillas and capture their leaders. Through covert activity, their goal is
to forestall Turkey from invading Iraq.
While detailed operational plans are necessarily concealed, broad outlines
have been presented to selected members of Congress as required by law. U.S.
Special Forces are to work with the Turkish army to suppress the Kurds'
guerrilla campaign. The administration is trying to prevent opening another
war front in Iraq that would have disastrous consequences. But this gamble
risks major exposure and failure.
The Turkish initiative reflects the temperament and personality of George W.
Bush. Even faithful congressional supporters of his Iraq policy have been
stunned by the president's upbeat mood, oblivious to the loss of his
political base. Despite the failing effort to impose a military solution in
Iraq, he is willing to try imposing arms -- though clandestinely -- on
Turkey's ancient problems with its Kurdish minority, comprising one-fifth of
the country's population.
The development of an autonomous Kurdish entity inside Iraq, resulting from
the decline and fall of Saddam Hussein, has alarmed the Turkish government.
That led to Ankara's refusal to permit entry of U.S. combat troops through
Turkey into Iraq, an 11th hour complication for the 2003 invasion. As
political power grew for the Kurds inside Iraq, the Turkish government
became steadily more uneasy about the centuries-old project of a Kurdistan
spreading across international boundaries -- and chewing up big pieces of
Turkey.
The dormant PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) Turkish Kurd guerrilla fighters
came to life. By June, the Turkish government was demonstrating its concern
by lobbing artillery shells across the border. Ankara began protesting, to
both Washington and Baghdad, that the PKK was using northern Iraq as a base
for guerrilla operations. On July 11 in Washington, Turkish Ambassador Nabi
Sensoy became the first Turkish official to claim publicly that the Iraqi
Kurds have claims on Turkish territory. On July 20 (two days before his
successful re-election), Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
threatened a trans-border military incursion into Iraq against the Kurds. On
July 25, Murat Karayilan, head of the PKK Political Council, predicted "the
Turkish army will attack southern Kurdistan."
Turkey has a well-trained, well-equipped army of 250,000 near the border,
facing some 4,000 PKK fighters hiding in the mountains of northern Iraq. But
significant cross-border operations surely would bring to the PKK's side the
military forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government, the best U.S. ally in
Iraq. What is Washington to do in the dilemma of two friends battling each
other on an unwanted new front in Iraq?
The surprising answer was given in secret briefings on Capitol Hill last
week by Eric S. Edelman, a former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney and now
undersecretary of defense for policy. A Foreign Service officer who once was
U.S. ambassador to Turkey, he revealed to lawmakers plans for a covert
operation of U.S. Special Forces helping the Turks neutralize the PKK. They
would behead the guerrilla organization by helping Turkey get rid of PKK
leaders that they have targeted for years.
Edelman's listeners were stunned. Wasn't this risky? He responded he was
sure of success, adding that the U.S. role could be concealed and always
would be denied. Even if all this is true, some of the briefed lawmakers
left wondering whether this was a wise policy for handling the beleaguered
Kurds who had been betrayed so often by U.S. governments in years past.
Hard experience has not dissuaded President Bush from difficult ventures
employing the use of force. On the contrary, two of the most intrepid
supporters of the Iraq intervention -- John McCain and Lindsey Graham --
were surprised by Bush during a recent meeting with him. In sharing their
impressions with colleagues, they commented on how unconcerned the president
seemed. That may explain his willingness to embark on such a questionable
venture against the Kurds.
