Post by depletedreasons on Nov 8, 2007 1:22:36 GMT -5
Turkey is paying the price for Bush's serial debacles in the Middle East
By The Daily Star
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Editorial
The increasingly dangerous crisis stemming from attacks on Turkey by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels based in northern Iraq is yet another by-product of the United States' fatally flawed polices in the Middle East. Starting with its refusal to heed the warnings of friends that the invasion of Iraq would cause far more problems than it might solve, Washington has made the wrong choice at virtually every turn. In Turkey's case the situation has been compounded by the fact that, far from having addressed its ally's concerns about northern Iraq becoming a safe haven for Kurdish militants, US President George W. Bush and his administration have made matters worse.
For one thing, shortly after overthrowing Saddam Hussein's government in 2003, the Americans disbanded the Iraqi Army, the one institution that might have prevented the vacuum that has allowed all sorts of armed groups - Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish - to gain power and influence. For another, they have looked the other way as the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq has undermined national cohesion by going it alone on a variety of issues. In addition, as part of the Bush administration's policy of destabilizing and provoking Iran, Washington has helped to arm the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PEJAK), a Kurdish rebel group with close ties to the PKK but whose primary battleground is the Islamic Republic. With the PKK facing few checks on its behavior and having easy access to plenty of PEJAK's arms, an intensification of attacks on Turkey was almost inevitable.
As though making possible - and even providing material assistance for - the PKK's increasing boldness were not sufficiently unhelpful, Bush and his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, have not even done much in terms of trying to rectify the situation. To be fair, they have few options: US forces on the ground in Iraq are already badly over-stretched and have only a token presence in the Kurdish areas; Iraq's own military and police can barely handle their current role supporting a US crackdown on insurgents; and Iraqi Kurdistan's security forces are composed of Peshmerga guerrillas with a long history of collaborating with both the PKK and PEJAK.
It is difficult to feel much sympathy for Bush. In fact, given the constant US propaganda accusing Iran and Syria of failing to stop militants from crossing their respective borders with Iraq to join the insurgency, it is ironic that Washington and the government it has cultivated in Baghdad are powerless to police Iraq's border with Turkey. Then there is the obligatory double standard: While America encouraged Israel to destroy Lebanon after Hizbullah captured two of the Jewish state's troops and killed eight others in July 2006, it has pressured Turkey to show restraint after losing dozens of soldiers in the past few weeks and thousands since the mid-1980s.
All of this would not be nearly so damaging if Turkey were not the bulwark of regional security and stability that it is and if it had not made so many sacrifices for the sake of its pro-Western stance. Ankara is a uniquely qualified interlocutor between the Middle East and the European Union, regardless of whether its bid for membership in the bloc ever succeeds; it also constitutes an imperfect but encouraging model for the secular democracy that Bush has said he wants to see spread across the Arab and Islamic worlds; Turkey even maintains a relatively close relationship with Israel that suits Washington's strategy in the region but poses considerable obstacles for Ankara's relations with dozens of countries.
Perhaps most importantly, Turkey is a natural (but woefully under-utilized) conduit to Tehran, itself long the focus of still another example of misguided US policy. Rather than taking advantage of the ties between a key ally and a major foe to ease tensions and perhaps pursue genuine engagement, the Bush administration has clung to a policy of confrontation with Tehran that promises even more difficulties for America's allies across the region.
www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=17&article_id=86534
By The Daily Star
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Editorial
The increasingly dangerous crisis stemming from attacks on Turkey by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels based in northern Iraq is yet another by-product of the United States' fatally flawed polices in the Middle East. Starting with its refusal to heed the warnings of friends that the invasion of Iraq would cause far more problems than it might solve, Washington has made the wrong choice at virtually every turn. In Turkey's case the situation has been compounded by the fact that, far from having addressed its ally's concerns about northern Iraq becoming a safe haven for Kurdish militants, US President George W. Bush and his administration have made matters worse.
For one thing, shortly after overthrowing Saddam Hussein's government in 2003, the Americans disbanded the Iraqi Army, the one institution that might have prevented the vacuum that has allowed all sorts of armed groups - Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish - to gain power and influence. For another, they have looked the other way as the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq has undermined national cohesion by going it alone on a variety of issues. In addition, as part of the Bush administration's policy of destabilizing and provoking Iran, Washington has helped to arm the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PEJAK), a Kurdish rebel group with close ties to the PKK but whose primary battleground is the Islamic Republic. With the PKK facing few checks on its behavior and having easy access to plenty of PEJAK's arms, an intensification of attacks on Turkey was almost inevitable.
As though making possible - and even providing material assistance for - the PKK's increasing boldness were not sufficiently unhelpful, Bush and his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, have not even done much in terms of trying to rectify the situation. To be fair, they have few options: US forces on the ground in Iraq are already badly over-stretched and have only a token presence in the Kurdish areas; Iraq's own military and police can barely handle their current role supporting a US crackdown on insurgents; and Iraqi Kurdistan's security forces are composed of Peshmerga guerrillas with a long history of collaborating with both the PKK and PEJAK.
It is difficult to feel much sympathy for Bush. In fact, given the constant US propaganda accusing Iran and Syria of failing to stop militants from crossing their respective borders with Iraq to join the insurgency, it is ironic that Washington and the government it has cultivated in Baghdad are powerless to police Iraq's border with Turkey. Then there is the obligatory double standard: While America encouraged Israel to destroy Lebanon after Hizbullah captured two of the Jewish state's troops and killed eight others in July 2006, it has pressured Turkey to show restraint after losing dozens of soldiers in the past few weeks and thousands since the mid-1980s.
All of this would not be nearly so damaging if Turkey were not the bulwark of regional security and stability that it is and if it had not made so many sacrifices for the sake of its pro-Western stance. Ankara is a uniquely qualified interlocutor between the Middle East and the European Union, regardless of whether its bid for membership in the bloc ever succeeds; it also constitutes an imperfect but encouraging model for the secular democracy that Bush has said he wants to see spread across the Arab and Islamic worlds; Turkey even maintains a relatively close relationship with Israel that suits Washington's strategy in the region but poses considerable obstacles for Ankara's relations with dozens of countries.
Perhaps most importantly, Turkey is a natural (but woefully under-utilized) conduit to Tehran, itself long the focus of still another example of misguided US policy. Rather than taking advantage of the ties between a key ally and a major foe to ease tensions and perhaps pursue genuine engagement, the Bush administration has clung to a policy of confrontation with Tehran that promises even more difficulties for America's allies across the region.
www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=17&article_id=86534