<p>How did we lose the loyalty of Turkey, and with it that much-wanted northern front for the war in Iraq?</p>
<p>It sure wasn't for lack of largesse.</p>
<p>Over the past four years, at the clear behest of the U.S., Turkey's troubled economy has received--via the International Monetary Fund and World Bank--more cheap loans than any other country on the planet. Since 1999, the IMF has approved some $30 billion in below-market funding for Turkey, making it one of the IMF's top clients. Over the same period the World Bank has lent Turkey $7 billion at subsidized rates, making it one of the bank's biggest customers, too. At every juncture, meanwhile, until Turkey's turncoat vote last month on troop transit for the Iraq war, the U.S. government had sent the message that Turkey was simply too strategically vital to be allowed to fail. And Turkey's politicians, knowing that the money would pour forth, kept coming back for more.</p>