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War, War, War See other War, War, War Articles Title: Turkey Resists U.S. Demands That It End Offensive In Iraq ANKARA: Turkish leaders on Thursday again resisted calls by the U.S. defense secretary, Robert Gates, for a swift end to Turkey's offensive against Kurdish guerrillas, offering no timetable about when they would withdraw Turkish troops from northern Iraq. Gates came to the Turkish capital with a stern message that the Turkish winter offensive in the mountains of northern Iraq should wrap up within days, perhaps as soon as early March. But after three hours of meetings with senior civilian and military leaders on Thursday, Gates said he had received no assurances that the Turkish offensive would be over by then. In fact, the Turkish minister of defense, Vecdi Gonul, implied that because of "winter conditions," the progress of the campaign to dismantle the infrastructure of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, could be slow. Turkish officials said on Wednesday that the government had no intention of ending military operations in Iraq before all of its targets had been destroyed. President George W. Bush was asked, in a news conference Thursday, whether he was concerned that Turkey might keep a protracted military presence in Kurdish regions of northern Iraq. "I strongly agree with the sentiments of Secretary Gates, who said the incursion must be limited and must be temporary in nature," he said. "The Turks need to move, to move quickly, achieve their objectives and get out." Today in Africa & Middle East Hamas rocket kills IsraeliU.S. commander supports pause in Iraq troop reductionsU.S. imposes more sanctions on Syrian individualsPressed by a reporter as to whether he meant this should be done in a matter of days or weeks, he said, "As quickly as possible." But he also expressed sympathy over the problems Turkey faces in its border region. "The Turks, the Americans and the Iraqis - including the Iraqi Kurds - share a common enemy in the PKK," he said. Gates said he was still confident that Turkish leaders understood the principal concerns of U.S. officials: that the offensive could be prolonged, bloody and ultimately ineffective. "I think they got our message," he said after the meetings in Ankara. The Turkish offensive into Iraq has put the Bush administration in an awkward position. On one hand, the Turkish violation of Iraqi sovereignty points up the weakness of Iraq's government at a time when the Bush administration is spending billions of dollars annually to strengthen Iraqi institutions, including the military. At the same time, with more than 150,000 American troops currently in Iraq, the White House is open to charges of hypocrisy for criticizing another country for justifying a military invasion on the grounds of pre-empting future terrorist attacks. During a news conference on Thursday, Gates was asked whether the White House was using a double standard when it raised questions about the Turkish offensive. Gates said it was necessary for Turkish leaders to communicate more closely with the Iraqi government and used the analogy of counterterrorism operations inside the tribal areas of Pakistan. American operations against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Pakistan, he said, are coordinated with Pakistan's government. The Central Intelligence Agency has launched a number of missile strikes inside Pakistan against senior Al Qaeda operatives. U.S. officials occasionally notify Pakistani authorities just minutes before the strike takes place. Officials in Ankara told Gates that, with the help of detailed American satellite intelligence, the Turkish military is able to precisely target guerrilla camps that are far removed from civilian population centers. Turkey remains an important NATO ally for the United States, but the war in Iraq has strained relations between the two countries from before the time American troops entered Iraq in March 2003. Weeks before the American invasion began, the Turkish government refused to allow the Pentagon access to staging areas in Turkey for the U.S. Army 4th Infantry Division. War planners had hoped to use Turkey as a northern front for the assault on Baghdad. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld would later cite that decision by Turkey - which limited the number of American forces in Baghdad after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime - as a reason for the birth of the Iraqi insurgency. Gates said Thursday that Kurdish guerrillas represent a real threat to Turkish security. But he said he needed more information about the effectiveness of Turkey's military campaign before he could determine whether the offensive was justified. He also reiterated that the campaign would ultimately be unsuccessful until it was accompanied by economic and development programs to isolate PKK guerrillas from the civilian population. Gonul, the Turkish defense minister, said that Turkish troops were being careful to limit operations to known terrorist train and infrastructure targets and will leave Iraq as soon as possible. "We have no intention to occupy any area," he said. "This is only a law-and-order action. That's all." Turkey contends that over the past week it has killed more than 200 guerrillas from the PKK, which the United States classifies as a terrorist organization. PKK leaders have disputed that figure. The Turkish military said that 24 of its soldiers had been killed since the ground offensive began a week earlier. The PKK says that more than 100 Turkish troops have been killed. It has not given a figure for its own casualties. The Turkish military has pledged to destroy the PKK's training camps and infrastructure inside Iraq, from which the group has stage terrorist attacks and assassinations inside Turkey. The Iraqi government has condemned the Turkish offensive as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, and Iraqi officials fear that the campaign could further threaten the already fragile security of Iraq. Gates said he was hopeful that more sincere diplomatic efforts between Turkey and Iraq would help contain Turkey's military campaign.Last year, the Bush administration began providing Turkey's military with satellite imagery and other intelligence to aid strikes against the PKK.
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#1. To: Brian S (#0)
Bush needs to take his own advice.
Looks like Turkey was unable to achieve its goals within a few days. Another quagmire? It would be interesting to know what side Israel -- which has had close ties with both Turkey and the Kurds -- is taking in this.
To reason, indeed, he was not in the habit of attending. His mode of arguing, if it is to be so called, was one not uncommon among dull and stubborn persons, who are accustomed to be surrounded by their inferiors. He asserted a proposition; and, as often as wiser people ventured respectfully to show that it was erroneous, he asserted it again, in exactly the same words, and conceived that, by doing so, he at once disposed of all objections. - Macaulay, "History of England," Vol. 1, Chapter 6, on James II.
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