As if we needed any more evidence how the war in Iraq is fucking up the entire region
Turkey's army chief said Thursday the military had launched several ''large scale'' offensives against rebels in the predominantly Kurdish southeast, and he asked the government for approval to launch an incursion into neighboring northern Iraq.
It continues below-
But Iraq's government is barely able to control its own cities. U.S. commanders, who are battling the Iraqi insurgency in the middle of the country, are stretched too thin to take on Turkish Kurds hiding in remote mountains near the frontier.
On Monday, the Turkish government demanded again that U.S. and Iraqi officials crack down on guerrillas from the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.
''An operation into Iraq is necessary,'' said Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, the head of Turkey's powerful military. ''The PKK has huge freedom of movement in Iraq ... It has spread its roots in Iraq.''
Buyukanit said the military already was moving against separatists in the southeast.
''There are several large-scale operations under way in several areas,'' Buyukanit told a press conference. ''Our aim is to prevent them from taking positions in the region with the coming of spring.''
Is this the beginning of a greater regional war?
Will there be more mass slaughter of the Kurds in the future than ever occurred under Saddam?
Will Turkey, a historic U.S. ally and rare bright spot of democratic self-governance in the Muslim World become destabilized and collapse?
It will take time to answer these questions.
But we already know one answer- Bush's Iraq war has fucked up the region, the world, and the U.S.'s future more than any other foreign policy decision the US has ever made.