Associated Press is reporting that Iraqi Kurds are being squeezed by Turkish troops who are amassing to invade Iraq from the North and by saboteurs who have bombed a bridge that could have served as a route for refugees to escape Southward toward Baghdad. This could be the prelude to genocide.
Northern Iraq, where the Kurds predominate, has been relatively peaceful. Iraqi Kurds have been America's strongest allies in Iraq. NATO ally Turkey, however, says that Kurdish extremists from Iraq have been launching terrorist strikes within the Kurdish region of Turkey.
My best guess is that when Turkey invades Northern Iraq, the last peaceful region in Iraq will explode in violence and bloodshed. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has warned Turkey not to invade Northern Iraq, but I suspect that Turkey will ignore our warning and follow our example. The justification and precedent for invading countries that are suspected of harboring terrorists was set by President Bush.
When Turkey invades Northern Iraq, the U.S. will be forced to choose between two of our most loyal allies in the region -- the Kurdish Iraqis or the Turks. The Turks will win, hands down. The Kurds are the odd men out.
As a penalty, Turkey will be denied entry into the European Union. That loss will be miniscule in comparison to the profits they could reap from the oil fields they could control in Northern Iraq.
With the Kurds in the North out of the way, the civil war for control of the oil fields in Southern Iraq will be between the Sunni's and the Shia's. Iran is Shia and most of the people in Southern Iraq are Shia. Shia's dominate Iraq's newly elected democratic government. Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and almost all of our allies in the region are Sunni.
The chess pieces are almost all in place for the President's war with Iran and, inevitably, with the double-crossed Iraqi Shia's and Kurds that we have been training and equipping to assume control of Iraq. Unfortunately, all the chess pieces in this deadly game bleed real blood.
Meanwhile, back in the U.S., Christian book publishers are printing an avalanche of apocalyptic books to put on the shelves in preparation for the 2008 elections.
2 comments:
Interesting perspective. Prior to this, the Kurds had special protection. The reason that Iraqi Kurdistan had done well when the rest of Iraq was chaos was because the Kurds had been able to build a stable governmental and economic infrastructure for a decade during the No Fly Zone.
I think the risk of Turkey invading increases if we attempt to break up Iraq because then an independent Kurdistan becomes a beacon to Turkish Kurds.
Everyone is a pawn in this, except for Bush and the oil barons.
Kurds are not odd man out. They are manipulating everybody. They've been receiving immense support and protection (no-fly zone, imports, investments, training, arms, etc) from Turkish-Kurds, USA, Russia, France, UK, Greece, and Israel for decades now. Within the last century, they have done something horrible to all of their neighbors - including being the largest killers of Armenians in WWI. Yet, when they get punished for their crimes, everybody feels sorry for them. Why? Because they are the underdog, or because they kiss US and EU ass, or is it because they kill Turks? At the end of the day, the Kurds will again pay dearly for betraying their neighbors and the West will supply the arms to make it happen.
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