Turkey at War in Iraq

Iraq war optimist Michael Yon thinks Americans are woefully, even willfully, ignorant about how great things really are over there. Now Turkey has decided war in Iraq was working out so wonderfully that it had to get in on the action too.

From Bloomberg (not the next president of these United States) News:

Turkey bombed units of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq and ordered troops across the border in pursuit of the militants…..

Turkish F-16 jets and artillery pounded at least 63 suspected rebel positions inside the Kurdish-controlled region from Oct. 21 until yesterday…..

The army sent 300 commandos into Iraq by helicopter on Oct. 21 to hunt down PKK fighters after 12 soldiers were killed by the group the same day, the official said. The attack on PKK bases up to 40 kilometers (25 miles) into Iraq lasted about 28 hours before troops returned to the Turkish side, he added.

……. Turkey's parliament on Oct. 17 passed a resolution authorizing the government to send troops into Iraq to attack PKK positions there. The U.S. opposes such action on concern it would destabilize the calmest part of Iraq.

"These military operations will continue and perhaps the Turks will start economic sanctions against Iraq too," said Wolfango Piccoli, a political risk analyst at Eurasia Group in London……

About 80,000 Turkish troops are now lined up along the border with Iraq…

Read more about other rebel groups who make Kurdish Iraq their home, ones aimed at Iran and not Turkey, in Michael Totten's feature from our October issue.