Regarding Turkey's threats of military action in Iraq, it is not a question of if anymore, but a question of when.
Welcome to WWIII!!!
And Bush didn't even have to bomb Iran to get it started.
It's here!
Update (3:30 pm edt): I told ya!
"Kurdish rebels kill 17 Turkish troops; US military attacks Sadr City" by Amit R. Paley/Washington Post October 22, 2007
BAGHDAD - An audacious cross-border ambush by Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq killed at least 17 Turkish soldiers yesterday, ratcheting up pressure on the Turkish government to launch a military offensive into Iraq.
The predawn raid on Turkish soldiers, among the deadliest attacks in recent memory, was carried out by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, known by its Kurdish initials PKK. The armed group aims to create an independent Kurdish state out of parts of eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, and western Iran.
Turkish officials said 16 soldiers were also wounded in the fighting in Hakkari Province, which borders Iraq. Thirty-two Kurdish fighters were killed in subsequent clashes and 10 Turkish troops were still missing, the officials said.
Abdul Rahman al-Chaderchi, a PKK spokesman, said the Kurdish fighters attacked because Turkish troops were conducting war games late Saturday night near the border. He said that the death toll was higher than Turkey reported and that several soldiers were being held prisoner, but he declined to provide precise numbers.
Turkey continued to shell the area along the northern Iraqi border late yesterday, residents and officials said.
The Bush administration condemned the Kurdish assault. "These attacks are unacceptable and must stop now," said Gordon Johndroe, President Bush's national security spokesman.
[And if they don't, what exactly is America going to do?
We can't even control Baghdad; how the hell are we going to anything in Kurdistan?]
"Iraq and Turkey See Tensions Rise After Ambush" by SABRINA TAVERNISE
ISTANBUL, Oct. 21 — A brazen ambush by Kurdish militants that left at least 12 Turkish soldiers dead touched off a major escalation in Turkey-Iraq tensions on Sunday, bringing fears that Turkey would retaliate immediately by sending troops across the border into Iraq. But Turkey’s prime minister said he delayed a decision, after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice personally intervened.
The ambush by a large group of Kurdish militants about three miles from the border with Iraq early on Sunday was seen as a direct provocation on the part of the militants, who have increasingly staged raids into Turkey from hide-outs in the mountains of northern Iraq.
There was no immediate comment from Ms. Rice about the exchange, but earlier in the day the Bush administration strongly condemned the Kurdish ambush. Sean McCormack, a State Department spokesman, did not return telephone messages for comment on Sunday night.
The Kurdish group has killed nearly 40 Turkish soldiers in recent weeks in cross-border raids.
The Turkish military struck back inside Turkey, killing as many as 32 Kurdish militants, a government spokesman said. But the Kurdish ambush still drew strong public outrage here, and its brazenness could effectively force the government to make good on its warning to send forces into northern Iraq.
Protesters marched in several cities, including Samsun on the Black Sea and Istanbul. In central Turkey, they broke windows in offices of the main Kurdish political party.
Armagan Kuloglu, a retired Turkish major general, in a telephone interview:
“With this incident, the arrow left the bow. No room is left for the government to hesitate, postpone or fail to launch a cross-border operation.”
In another attack, apparently by Kurdish militants, a minibus in a Turkish wedding convoy struck a bomb, wounding 17 civilians, according to the state-run Anatolian News Agency.
Sunday's ambush on Turkish troops was carried out by a much larger force than the P.K.K. typically uses, the Western official said, and appeared aimed at drawing Turkey into conflict.
Suat Kiniklioglu, a lawmaker from Mr. Erdogan’s party and a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee:
“I think we’ve passed the threshold. It looks like for two days or three days there will be a holding off and a waiting period. Unless the U.S. comes up with something magic in the next few days, which is highly unlikely, we’ll probably go in.”
Vecdi Gonul, Turkey’s defense minister, speaking to reporters in Kiev after talks with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates:
“We have plans to cross the border.”
Ross Wilson, the American ambassador in Turkey:
“I have been shocked by the news reports today.”
[WhereTF you been living, guy? Mars?
These are the U.S. best diplomats? Pffffttttt!!]
Details of the attack, which took place near the village of Daglica, were still unclear. Turkey’s private NTV television reported that the Turkish soldiers died when the Kurds blew up a bridge as a military convoy was passing, but the government did not confirm that account. The Kurds said on a Web site that they had captured eight soldiers, but that could not be verified.
The military said only that the attack took place “in three locations” shortly after midnight, and listed the names of 12 soldiers who had been killed. It said in a statement that it had continued to monitor the area where the P.K.K. fled, and that it had been firing at 63 “possible targets.”
["Possible" targets?
What does that mean: innocent Kurd women and children dead?]
