Story here. And although it’s not in the BBC account, I just heard a Democracy Now! report on the radio stating the Turks claim they had U.S. permission to do this. Which is hard to believe . . . well, maybe not, but at any rate astonishing.
So, now what? Are we just going to give the Turks a free hand in Iraqi Kurdistan even though the Kurds are (or have been, up to now) the most pro-U.S. group in the country?
I don’t see it as astonishing after all the group they are bombing is recognised by the US as a terrorist organisation. We had to give the Turks some leeway to save face and vent. They were under tremendous domestic pressure from the home front to do something. Its better to let them let off a little steam than go for an all out invasion and occupation.
According to this, the U.S. actually helped the Turks with the attack by providing real-time intelligence.
I’m not sure how, but this is going to come back and bite us on the ass.
The stage is set to hand off Iraq to the Turks. 
Good riddance, I say. Now we can pull out the troops, while still leaving the civilian contractors and corporations there to sweep in the big bucks for themselves. 
I think the Iranians might have something to say about that.
Here’s a thought: If we stood by the side of the Kurds and drove the Turks to stop we would DEFINITELY win many hearts and minds…
Nobody actually in charge really wants to win hearts and minds. It’s all a giant smokescreen for the large-scale plundering being done by the administration’s corporate buddies.
And yes, I have lost all faith in the sincerity of the goals of this invasion. I’m thoroughly convinced at this point that the entire War on Terror is a global powergrab by an administration that’s cozy with multinational corporations (mostly because most of the people involved are actually PART of various multinational corporations). In the end, I think the truth will come out that the entire and only purpose of the invasion of Iraq was to give Milton Friedman’s disciples a place to stand while they built what they consider to be an economic utopia. It probably won’t come out for decades, but I predict that this is closer to the truth than any of the mainstream media are going to come for a long time.
Heart breaking. My world is collapsing around me. Next you’ll tell me the Spanish-American War and the subsequent occupation of the Phillippines wasn’t an earnest if bumbling effort to democratize and Christianize those stoic brown peasants working the fields.
Actually, winning hearts and minds would be good as a strategic goal. Brits used to do it all the time, before busting out the mustard gas and torches. I guess we just assumed we weren’t as effective as the old timers and skipped a step.
The Philippines has been a Christian nation for centuries, well before we got there. I think the point is that the scale that corporate greed and interests drive this administration is UN HEARD OF in American history. This GOP makes our imperial dreams of the late 19 and early 20th century looks like child’s play.
I beg your pardon, it was a Catholic nation. There’s a big difference! 
Whoa, there, amigo don’t make me unleash my catholic fury on you
The Catholic Furies…sounds like a convent softball team…
And pretty successfully as evinced by the Commonwealth.
Of course we had statesmen in charge, whereas you have Bush. :rolleyes:
We wouldn’t win very many Turkish hearts and minds, especially the ones who’ve lost relatives to PKK terrorist actions.
Or one of the lesser gangs in ‘The Warriors’.
“Siiiiisteeeers! Come out and praaaaaaaaaay!”
Hey, don’t look at me. I’m not the one who made the justifications for use in speeches before grand squares and future widows.
Really? Unheard of? What about the imperial dreams of the early, middle, and late 20th century?
As for Turkey, it looks like someone didn’t have enough of that good old '90s nostalgia.
Who would you rather have as an enemy, Turkey or the Kurds? I’m not sure America made the wrong choice, here.
Yeah, and Turkey is a NATO member, bombing them would have been awwwwkward.
“Kurds have no friends but the mountains.”
– Kurdish proverb.