US denies backing Turkey PKK raid

[lumberjack_jeff]

Source: BBC News

The US has denied it gave permission for Turkish aircraft to carry out air strikes against Kurdish PKK separatist rebels in northern Iraq on Sunday.

<snip>

The Turkish military earlier said the US had given tacit approval by opening Iraqi airspace for the operation.

Afterwards, Turkey's most senior general, Gen Yasar Buyukanit, said the US had given "intelligence" that aided the operation.

<snip>

"But what is more important is that the United States last night opened northern Iraqi airspace to us. By doing that, the United States approved the operation," he said.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7147375.stm

[tom_paine]

1. What a surprise...the Bushies lying again. Who could have guessed.

You know, at this point, I would be forced to give equal credence to Bushler and his Minions as I would the leader of the Aryan Nations'.

Both have been shown to be equally trustworthy, which is to say not at all.

[Eugene]

2. WP: U.S. Helps Turkey Hit Rebel Kurds In Iraq

Source: Washington Post

U.S. Helps Turkey Hit Rebel Kurds In Iraq
Intelligence Role Could Complicate Diplomacy

By Ann Scott Tyson and Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, December 18, 2007; Page A01

The United States is providing Turkey with real-time
intelligence that has helped the Turkish military target a
series of attacks this month against Kurdish separatists
holed up in northern Iraq, including a large airstrike on
Sunday, according to Pentagon officials.

U.S. military personnel have set up a center for sharing
intelligence in Ankara, the Turkish capital, providing
imagery and other immediate information gathered from
U.S. aircraft and unmanned drones flying over the
separatists' mountain redoubts, the officials said. A
senior administration official said the goal of the U.S.
program is to identify the movements and activities of the
Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), which is fighting to create
an autonomous enclave in Turkey.

The United States is "essentially handing them their
targets," one U.S. military official said. The Turkish
military then decides whether to act on the information
and notifies the United States, the official said.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/17/AR2007121702150.html