TURKEY INVADES NORTHERN IRAQ: AGAIN

Turkey has launched an offensive into northern Iraq aimed at the PKK. The PKK is a terrorist organization made up of ethnic kurds who take refuge just across the border from Turkey and receive help and safety from many Kurds in the region. But most of the Kurds do oppose the PKK. But Iraq is outraged that Turkey has sent in troops to the one basically stable region of the country, threatening to destabalize it. The US called for a timetable but Turkey has refused saying that they will stay there until the job is finished. Many people fear that this will lead to large scale conflict between Turkey and Iraq. This is the 25th time Turkey has gone into Iraq. They are using US intelligence to target the PKK this time. This has strained the US-Kurdish relations as far as they will go.


PERSONAL OPINION
This seems like another difficult situation to deal with. We need the support of the Iraqi people, but we also need the support of Turkey. Hopefully we can satisfy both of them. While I can understand why we are asking Turkey to leave- the tension it is causing- I can also see the Turkish point of view. The PKK is launching attacks into Turkey. If this was done to the US we would do exactly what Turkey is doing. Plus the PKK is a terrorist organization and we have called for a global war on terror so it is hypocritical for us to critisize them. They are acting just as we would in a similiar situation. So both sides have very good points. We need to meet somewhere in the middle of understanding that our allies are getting attacked and therefor reacting and fighting terrorism; while at the same time realizing that this could undermine the hard-earned gains we have made in Iraq so far. And Turkey is a fellow member of NATO. Not only do they have the 2nd largest army in NATO, and have supported us throughout this long war, but they are the only Muslim nation in NATO. It helps us to prove that this is not a war on Islam when there is another muslim nation fighting with us. I have a feeling we will need there support in the future.