Turkey to abandon deployment plans if troops not welcome

[Barrett808]

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday his country would give up plans to send troops to Iraq if Iraqis did not want them there, but that the decision ultimately rested with the United States. NATO member Turkey has offered troops to help stabilise Iraq after the U.S.-led war that toppled Saddam Hussein in April, but the prospect has brought harsh remarks from both the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council and Kurds in northern Iraq. Iraqi leaders say military involvement from neighbouring countries may interfere with domestic politics and impede the already fragile reconstruction efforts.

http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,4789_W_1003296,00.html

[Zhade]

1. Some common sense, for once.

Here's hoping they don't send the troops in. Kurds + Turks = chaos.

[Gloria]

2. My reaction, too! In recent articles that I've seen and posted (some)

in the WMW, you could tell the deal was still shaky. First, the Turks kept saying there were "negotiations" still going to decide the details. Then, there were complaints that the Turkish forces would be going to the most unsafe parts of the Baghdad area. Then, they started to repeat that they would be going for humanitarian reasons....but, they would shoot if they had to, but the Americans still were responsible for anything that could lead to this situation. Of course, the Kurds were mad, and the Iraqi council was mad...and they had a delegation in Turkey within the last couple of weeks. And, the Turkish public really is very against this.

So, it seems the Turkish gov. is listening to all this and looking for a graceful exit....If the US insists, there will be a lot of unhappiness in Turkey and the region.

[karlschneider]

3. This translates as:

"We're not going to send any troops unless the US demands it or threatens to take back our $8 billion..."

[Karenina]

5. They will take the 8 bil

especially if they've got it in writing. (THAT was the reason the deployment option there failed, for anyone unaware). Then no troops will be sent due to "popular resistance." Sending Turkish troops in is absolutely, positively the stupidest of the stupid clusterfuck moves so far. However I AM fastening my seatbelt. :eyes:

[David Zephyr]

4. Looks Like Bush Will Have to Do Some More Bribing With Our Tax $

n/t

[goforit]

6. Wisdom at hand???.....Pressure for US to choose: Kurds vs. Turkey

Hmmmmm......

What will Rummy do now?

[lebkuchen]

7. Yet the U.S. plans to cut its forces in 2004 (yeah, right)

Pity the guys left behind.

http://msnbc.com/news/982168.asp?0cv=CB10

THERE NOW are 130,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. The plan to cut that number is well advanced and has been described in broad outline to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld but has not yet been approved by him. It would begin to draw down forces next spring, cutting the number of troops to fewer than 100,000 by next summer and then to 50,000 by mid-2005, officers involved in the planning said.

The plan, which amounts to the first formal military exit strategy for Iraq, is being drawn up to show how the U.S. presence might be reduced without undercutting the stability of the country. Military officials also worry that if they do not begin cutting the size of the U.S. force, they could damage troop morale, leave the armed forces shorthanded if crises emerge in North Korea or elsewhere, and help create a long-term personnel shortage in the service.

AND

...preliminary steps have been taken to ease out Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, who became the top U.S. commander in Iraq slightly more than four months ago, a senior Army general said.