Monday, December 24, 2007

The mess they made

Turkey is bombing northern Iraq (Kurdistan) for the second straight day:
"Turkish jets bombed separatist Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq for the second day in a row, Kurdish security officials said Sunday, although there was no immediate confirmation from the Turkish military.

Jabbar Yawer, the deputy minister for the Kurdistan Regional Government’s security forces, said that the aircraft hit a remote border region 50 miles north of Erbil but that there were no civilian casualties because the area was deserted.

Mr. Yawer said he did not know if there were any fatalities among the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party, known by its Kurdish initials, P.K.K. The Turkish government accuses the group of launching attacks into Turkey from remote bases in the mountains of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq."

Turkey is supposedly an ally, a rare asset in that part of the world. The Kurds are the only people in Iraq who are pro-occupation -- another rare middle-eastern ally. I'd posit that the Bush administration could fuck up a two-car funeral, but are they really to blame? I mean, who could have predicted such an event?