Turkish Airstrike in Iraq

[Bravo]

Turkish planes bomb PKK targets in Iraq - Boston.com

Guess who sold the Turkish those F-16's....

That should make some friends...

[Coeloptera]

Well, it's not like we can sit here and tell them they shouldn't be attacking a country that didn't directly invade them, is it?

- Coeloptera

[Uncle Harley]

I was just wondering how they got all that concrete & rebar way out in the desert!

[troy2000]

Originally Posted by Coeloptera

Well, it's not like we can sit here and tell them they shouldn't be attacking a country that didn't directly invade them, is it?
- Coeloptera

Actually, that's the problem. The Kurdish separatists are directly invading them. They use Northern Iraq as a base of operations to carry out attacks in Turkey.

The Kurds got screwed when the British,French, Russians and Turks carved up what was left of the Ottoman Empire. Instead of getting their own country, they got divided up as parts of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. It's a little late to change things now, but some of the Kurds haven't given up on the idea of an independent Kurdistan.

[Coeloptera]

Originally Posted by troy2000

Actually, that's the problem. The Kurdish separatists are directly invading them. They use Northern Iraq as a base of operations to carry out attacks in Turkey.

The Kurds got screwed when the British,French, Russians and Turks carved up what was left of the Ottoman Empire. Instead of getting their own country, they got divided up as parts of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. It's a little late to change things now, but some of the Kurds haven't given up on the idea of an independent Kurdistan.

Perhaps I was being a bit too snarky for my own good (yeah, who'd have thought, right?). I know there's a lot of bad history between the Kurds and the Turks and the Turkish have been making smaller incursions into the region for some time now while the Kurds withdrew to the north of Iraq to sit out the Sunni/Shiite nastiness and make their own plans.

The annoying thing is, we don't seem to be paying much attention to that region yet...I'm not sure we're currently equipped to do anything about it, either. What are we going to do, threaten Turkey with military action if they don't stop?

- Coeloptera

[troy2000]

Originally Posted by Coeloptera

Perhaps I was being a bit too snarky for my own good (yeah, who'd have thought, right?). I know there's a lot of bad history between the Kurds and the Turks and the Turkish have been making smaller incursions into the region for some time now while the Kurds withdrew to the north of Iraq to sit out the Sunni/Shiite nastiness and make their own plans.
The annoying thing is, we don't seem to be paying much attention to that region yet...I'm not sure we're currently equipped to do anything about it, either. What are we going to do, threaten Turkey with military action if they don't stop?
- Coeloptera

We not only aren't threatening the Turks, we're actively cooperating with them and providing them with intelligence. We don't want the Kurds using Iraq as a terrorist base to kill Turks. And that puts us in an awkward position, because the Kurds are mostly on our side inside Iraq.

[troylaplante]

Originally Posted by troy2000

The Kurds got screwed when the British,French, Russians and Turks carved up what was left of the Ottoman Empire. Instead of getting their own country, they got divided up as parts of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria.

The abject stupidity of artificially or arbitrarily created lines of political boundary has astounded me for years. To fail to take into account ethnic groups, essentially what are nations of people, and carve them into separate geo-political boundaries is sheer stupidity. That is exactly what T2000 has just described, and much of what Iraq (and that whole region) faces.

[GDawg]

50 jet fighters only kill eight people, of which only five were rebels...?

They need to hire Chuck Norris for a lot cheaper assault!