The Occasional Observer

Now that Turkey's parliament has approved a military incursion into Iraq in order to secure their border and suppress Kurdish terrorism, Pelosi is backtracking on the Armenian genocide resolution. Why it was presented in the first place is a great question. It could come back to bite the Dems, if the electorate thinks a plausible explanation is that the Dems wanted/needed failure in Iraq to succeed in '08.

More importantly, where do we go now? I'd prefer to view this as an opportunity than the disaster that is equally likely. Rather than telling the Turks to sit tight, I say, "welcome to coalition of the willing." I welcome NATO nations willing to commit resources to Iraq.

Might we not reach a mutually beneficial arrangement with Turkey, where we shift a sizeable number of troops into the Kurdish north in order to protect the Turkish border, and they relieve us in one of the "hot zones" in central, southern, or western Iraq. This would accomplish Turkey's primary goal, and keep us in Ankara's good graces by validating their complaint. At the same time, it would allow us to "protect" the Kurds from any overzealous policing by Turkish armed forces, who may or may not have an ethnic bone to pick with the Kurds.

Lastly, it would get some of our boys out of the hot zone and turn the policing over to Turks who, while still a foreign force, could not be pitched to Iraqis as "infidel occupiers" by our enemies.

Of course, whether this strategy would ultimately prove effective on the ground would depend on whether the Turks could (and/or would) effectively fight AQII and other terrorist factions in their designated area. On this point, I would defer to any with more knowledge of the Turkish political sitution and military readiness.