When Acronyms Attack

The U.S. is not saying much about an evident firefight between elements of the 101St Airborne and the PKK, the Kurdish insurgent/terrorist force which has waged war on Turkey for years. It appears that the Americans would not have admitted to the shoot-up in Northern Iraq were it not for the Turks spilling the beans.

But there's Uncle Sam, stuck between two implacable foes. Relations with both the Kurds and the Turks merit watching.

Comments

[Anonymous]

so how does the PKK represent the "Kurds"?

[R. C. Dean]

Well, the PKK is about to learn some hard lessons about conducting unapproved military activities in territory controlled by the US.

I don't know if its a case of the US being stuck between implacable foes as the PKK being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

[nameless guy]

While I'm not necessarily a fan of Turkey's heavy-handed approach to people with inconvenient ethnic backgrounds, the PKK is a bunch of bloodthirsty communists, and thankfully, they do not represent the "mainstream" Kurdish resistance. To a considerable extent, the decline of the PKK over the last 12 years has been at the hands of other Kurdish groups. And, the sooner the PKK is eliminated as a serious force, the better for the safety of everyone in the region. Even if it plays into the hands of the Turks.

[nameless guy]

Just in case my last comment wasn't forceful enough, I should emphasize that the DPK and PUK are probably *HAPPY* about this development. Some years ago they both declared a state of war with the PKK, and during the meantime I'm not aware of anything the PKK has done to prove that they're actually nice guys.

[joe]

nameless guy, gotta link for us ignoramuses who want to know more about Kurdish politics?

[Douglas Fletcher]

I want to know the Kurdish way.

[david f]

just wait until the us forces get in the way of the PFJ, the JPF, and the popular people's front (splitters!!!).

drf

[Warren]

All right. But APART from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system and public health, what have the [foreign occupiers] ever done for us?!

[GC's Ghost]

Warren. Warren. Warren.

Do you really expect the next line in the movie to happen here?

If so, might I interject: You, Sir, are an Optimist with an excellent sense of music, to boot!

And if anybody disagrees, we can make him write "___ go home" using PROPER grammar. Spelling is not important, of course.

In the coils of the Python,
Mr. Chaptman's Ghost.