Here is a new challenge for the anti-war crowd and the human shield industry. Are you prepared to denounce, decry, march against, write poems against, and generally get all upset about a nation preparing to invade its neighbour if that aggressive nation is NOT the United States? If so, prepare to marshall the full force of your moral vigor against -- Turkey.
When last we encountered Turkey it was denying the United States and Britain (its most trustworthy allies and NATO partners) the right to launch an attack on Iraq from its soil. This would have the effect of making an anti-Saddam war much more difficult by allowing Iraqi forces to defend a much narrower front. It is safe to assume that this Turkish decision will cost American and British lives. To their credit the good guys didn't whine and they made the proper responses about Turkey being a democracy and having the right to ... etc., etc.
But lo, what do we have here? Why, it's a Turkish army massing on the Iraqi border and preparing to launch itself into its neighbour's territory! To smash the godless forces of Baathist tyranny, no doubt, and to aid the allies in their quest to drive Saddam from power? Well, no. The Turks mean to invade northern Iraq to ensure that the Kurds there are neutralized and entertain no dangerous ideas of autonomy which might spread to their brethren inside Turkey.
This is very shabby behaviour and the Americans have warned against it. It is a move fraught with dangers and will certainly retard Turkey's progress toward acceptance as a Western nation and not just another Middle Eastern problem.
Posted by at March 8, 2003 01:26 PM