US sends warplanes to Turkey's Incirlik military base

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

More saber-rattling towards Iran?

http://www.kuna.net.kw/home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=941583


US sends warplanes to Turkey's Incirlik military base

ANKARA, Jan 11 (KUNA) -- U.S. F-16 jet-fighters arrived Thursday in Incirlik Air base in southern Turkish city of Adana after, the first time in three years.

According to Local Cihan News Agency, at least 16 F-16 jets joined by early warning system AWACS airplane, as well as tanker airplanes landed here at Incirlik coming from an American base in Germany.

An official at the U.S. embassy in Ankara announced that the planes arrived here for purpose of conducting exercises with the Turkish military in line with agreements between the two states.

Incirlik base was used as a northern recon base for American forces during the Iraqi war in 2003 and since then the base served as a logistic backup for the U.S. army.

Namik Tan, spokesman for the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also confirmed that the U.S. planes arrived for exercises' purposes.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I would hate to think the F-16s are there to intimidate if not use against

the Kurds in Iraq.

[acmavm]

2. I don't think its the Kurds who have to worry.

[C_U_L8R]

3. This has got to stop

Is there anyway congress or the courts or the military can stop these lunatics???
What can WE do?? This is CRAZY !!!

[leveymg]

4. Or, maybe we're going to bomb the Kurds? Naw, just showing the flag.

But, in all seriousness, there is another reason for Bush to stall, escalate and randomize the situation in Iraq into a threatened regional war. Oil.

The long-delayed Iraqi hydrocarbon law hasn't been signed, and the Surge gives Bush a last chance to coerce the Shi'a and the Kurds to sign away their ownership rights to the oil multinationals.

Without the threat of an attack on Iran, and the heightened tensions between the US and the Kurds in the North, likely the civil war would reach the point where any agreement between the three groups would become simply impossible.

This is stall to gain time and try to reorder things enough so that Exxon-Mobil gets its 75-year concessions.

***

It's been reported there was an armed confrontation between US and Kurdish troops at the airport when the Americans tried to fly out the Iranians who has been seized at the diplmatic post. Earlier this morning, I saw a link to an article that reported an armed confrontation with the Kurds - at first I couldn't believe it. Just went back to find it, and the post has been pulled.

Now, if this is true, the whole thing is beginning to make better sense.

Found a confirmation story by AP, which spun it this way: "All a big misunderstanding among friends". Double-sorry about the FOX link. Anyone see this reported anywhere else?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,243271,00.html

Five Iranians Seized by U.S. Troops in Iraq Remain in Custody
Friday, January 12, 2007

E-MAIL STORY PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION
BAGHDAD, Iraq — The Iraqi foreign minister said Friday that the five Iranians detained by U.S.-led forces in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq were working in a liaison office that had government approval and was in the process of being approved as a consulate.

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd, also said U.S. forces tried to seize more people at the airport in Irbil, 220 miles north of Baghdad, prompting a confrontation with Kurdish troops guarding the facility that was resolved without casualties.

In Washington, a Pentagon official said that after troops detained the people in the building, they got intelligence indicating that another person might have escaped out the back door and fled to the airport.

So an American team was sent to the airport, where they "surprised" Kurdish forces, who apparently had not been informed they were coming and wondered who they were and what they were doing there, said the Defense Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak about the incident on the record.

"No shots were fired, no one was injured, it was just a tense situation," said the official, who said it was possible a Kurdish commander had been informed but word had not reached troops at the airport.

[leftchick]

6. AFP has more detail

read this whole article and tell me things are not as bad as I think. Please? :scared:

<snip>

Fuad Hussein, a senior official in the Kurdish presidency, said the regional government, one of the staunchest US allies in the Middle East, had not been given advance warning about the arrest operation.

He also said that as US troops were taking the detainees away they were briefly stopped by Kurdish forces in an armed stand-off at Arbil airport.

"But later the Kurdish forces retreated to avoid any clash that could lead to the deterioration in the situation," he told AFP.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070112/wl_afp/iraniraqusraid_070112180127

[leveymg]

7. This also happened in December in the south.

It's part of territorial marking by US forces - a message that we still control Iraq, even if we really don't control anything outside the Green Zone.

During the December raid, they claim to have seized some Al Quds (Iranian Revoltionary Guard) documents that some US intel sources claim to show a link netween Iran and the Sunni insurgency. They'll probably trot these out as justification for a new hard-line against Iran.

[leftchick]

8. the US let the Iranians go right after that

It was not reported very well but they did. So much for the accusations against them.

[leveymg]

11. I recall,2 diplomats released, several others held

Can you go back and research that? Thanks

BTW: It's the NY Sun, a neocon paper, that's reporting the seized documents. http://www.nysun.com/article/46032

[leftchick]

14. It is rather confusing

becuase the US is hardly forthright about the whole matter. It appears two Iranians were arrested along with several others of other nationalities? Iraqis perhaps?. If that is even true, who knows. The US is saying they had documents, blahblah, then releases the Iranians. Talabani was pissed because he said he had invited the Iranians into Iraq. I believe that is why they were released and the document stuff was all horseshit.

Two Iranians held by US in Iraq freed


Iran’s envoy to Baghdad grateful to Iraqi government for release, says two countries enjoy strong relations.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=18967


TEHRAN - Two Iranians being held by US forces in Iraq were released early Friday and handed over to Iranian officials in Baghdad, the Iranian envoy to Iraq was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA.


"Fortunately with the effort exerted by the Iraqi officials, the US forces who firstly denied their arrest were obliged to admit it and under pressure from the Iraqi government to release them," Ambassador Hasan Kazemi Qomi was quoted as saying.


The handover took place in the presence of Iraqi National Security Advisor Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, Iranian state television reported.


"The arrest of these diplomats was carried out contrary to the international laws and the Geneva convention," Kazemi Qomi said.


"No foreign factor can impede the current existing friendly relation between Iranian and Iraqi officials... And I on behalf of my country's officials am grateful for the Iraqi officials' effort," he added.

[leveymg]

15. Yes, 2 Iranians were released on Friday, 12/29/06 after

being arrested on 12/21 in Baghdad with eight others, likely Iraqis. If there was much more to this story than was reported at the time, we should have heard about it by now. I think the neocons are at work again, trying to create a ton of trouble for Iran.

Here's the relevant section of the report:

On Wednesday, military spokesman General William Caldwell said US forces were holding two Iranian nationals detained last week in the Iraqi capital on suspicion of weapons smuggling.

"There was an operation on the morning of December 21 based on intelligence. We conducted a raid on a site in Baghdad," Caldwell told reporters.

Ten people were arrested in the raid and "documents, maps, photographs and videos" were seized which, he said, linked them to "illegal activities". After interrogation it was discovered that two of the 10 were Iranians.

"Debriefing of the detainees and investigation of the seized materials has yielded intelligence linking some of the individuals being detained to weapons shipments to illegal armed groups in Iraq," said a US military statement.

President Jalal Talabani, who invited the two Iranians to Iraq as part of an agreement between the newly forged allies to improve security, was said earlier this week by his office to be "unhappy with the arrests".

[jpak]

5. Gee - ya think???

n/t

[MyNameGoesHere]

9. it is a NATO

base so maybe, maybe not. who knows anymore. All i know is when the s... hits the fan lots are going to die.

[lovuian]

10. He's getting READY ... this just sucks

:argh:

[bdamomma]

12. can we have him arrested now, he is out of control

[EFerrari]

13. Well then, we have to get ready, too. One more reason to impeach

their mendacious felonius @sses.