heh so all of a sudden Kurds are our best friends? Yeah I guess one barbaric tribe had to replace the talibans as our best friends.
***So, I gather there’s a missing sarcasm tag, because we were never friends with the Taliban. And as far as “all of a sudden”, I’ve been posting this stuff for 2 years. No, they’re not our “best” friends, they are our friends. Turkey didn’t allow us to overfly their territory in Gulf WarII, so I guess we need to find another “barbaric” tribe that wants democracy and autonomy for themselves — Kurds fit the bill.
And turkey turned their backs on us?
***Yes
You know from which country most of our wounded are shipped out from? They have helped and are still helping us a hell of a lot more than our “best friends” the kurds
***I never said the Kurds are our “best friends”, so by quoting it, you’re quoting yourself in a circular argument. Did the Turks get gassed by Saddam Hussein when they followed the prompting of the U.S. and started fighting against him? NO, but the Kurds did. They help us where they can — the Turks denied us the help when we needed it. Do you favor democracy and autonomy for indigenous groups in the region? If not, why not?
“Did the Turks get gassed by Saddam Hussein when they followed the prompting of the U.S. and started fighting against him? NO, but the Kurds did.”
Historical nitpick. The Kurds got gassed by Saddam Hussain in 1988. At that point the US was exporting much dual-usage technology to Iraq and the administration managed to see off an attempt in Congress which would have stopped US military assistance, loans, exports, etc to Iraq. They were by no means encouraging the Kurds to fight Saddam Hussein.
They did encourage them to do this in 1991, whereupon Saddam slapped them down, but there was no gas involved.
The author of the linked article is no fan of Turkey but at least he sticks with facts and does come down on your side. But he does not gloss over our own Washington's roll in the confusion and foul-up.
Nor does he brush aside the democratic process vis-a-vis Turkey's decision -- it did play a role.
So many here simply toss out, "We got stiffed by Turkey when we needed them. Screw 'em forever!" and drive off.
The linked article comes close to answering why forty ships of infantry gear were shipped off to Turkey before Turkey's parliament even considered it -- and, as I recall, 80 percent of the public there opposed the war -- the author says 90 percent. It explains a little about what some unfinished business left over from the Gulf War had to do with pocketbook issues. Remember, we vote our pocketbooks (my words not the authors)?
Should Turkey not have "democracy and autonomy?"
My point: shouldn't those in Washington who made the war plans do some explaining about those forty ships of infantry gear headed for Turkey?