Turkey does our job for us, and we imprioson them for it. Hypocrisy.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=116

"The Turks were detained by soldiers from the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade, who suspected they were involved in a plot to harm Iraqi civilian officials in the north, a State Department official told CNN. "

Seems like that is the goal now adays, to kill detain anyone in a position of power, It seems like we just got jealous, and didn't want them to get any glory. No doubt Turkey was going to harm kurds, but how is that any different from what we're doing to Sadam's regime, and supporters. Kurds and Turks have always been fighting, Turks see them as evil, all that, so for the sake of being not hypocritical, shouldn't we allow Turks to kill people that they see as a threat?

We do it, Israel does it, why can't Turkey do it, are they not impowered by god, is that why, are they not Christian enough.

They had serious problems with Kurdish nationalists, and it would not surprised me if they weren't trying to do something naughty to one of our Kurdish allies.

The problem is that we acted without thinking to confront the Turks in a civilized manner. Military action should always be the option of last resort, not the first step we take in any given situation.

Only a fool motivated by racism and messianism would treat a NATO ally, and a valuable ally at that, with the contempt and disdain that the US has treated Turkey.

There is something else I would like to point out. There has been a series of minor incidents involving Turkish citizens in Iraq. There is a related story that I am posting on a separate thread. The story, involving an assault on Turkish correspondents, raises more questions than it answers.

Considering how thinly spread out US forces are in Iraq, who is to say that the Turks won't pull a Cyprus-style invasion, and annex Northern Iraq, together with the oil fields. There is a lot of antipathy among Iraqis in Northern Iraq towards the Kurds, and the treatment they have received from the Kurds since the fall of Saddam.

Turkey could exploit that animosity!

Since they wouldn't let us use our bases there in the operation against Iraq.

The Turkish people were against letting US use Turkish bases to attack a neighbor of theirs, a neighbor that had attacked no one.

If anything, the Turkish government acted more democratically than the US did. The Turkish Parliament held an open debate, and voted against allowing American combat troops to land in Turkey. The Turkish government had proposed the bill permitting the US to deploy combat troops to Turkey to invade Northern Iraq. When the Parliament voted the bill down, the government bowed to Parliament and the peoples' will.

The Turkish military, which is infiltrated with pro-American agents, resisted Washington's pressure to stage a coup and topple new Prime Minister Recep Erdogan, and respected the Parliamentary vote.

"I would not call them a trusted ally"

Just like good friends don't let friends drive while intoxicated, many of our allies in Europe and elsewhere, refused to cater to America's drunken orgy of revenge in which we have engaged since the unfortunate, and preventable, events of September 11, 2001.

Had Bush listened to our real friends and allies, instead of listening to "Gawd" telling him to attack Iraq, as the Israeli press reported that Bush told Abu Mazen and PM Sharon, we wouldn't be in the quagmire of Iraq, and no one would have died.