Just how screwed are the Kurds?

[Theophylact]

A whole heckuva lot, according to Timothy Noah.

[Scott Tiger]

"In securing agreement to move U.S. troops through Turkey for an Iraqi invasion, the U.S. government has agreed to pay a bribe of up to $30 billion and has also made certain bargains that it isn't eager to spell out."

$30B would be better spent on an economic stimulus package IMO.

[Knothead]

the U.S. government has agreed to pay a bribe of up to $30 billion and has also made certain bargains that it isn't eager to spell out. ("I don't have the details of the agreement," a State Department spokesman told the press on Feb. 25.)

Okay, this writer just lost me, for one. That sounds like a load of crap. Somebody is making this up...I mean, 30 billion? People, get a grip.

a State Department spokesman told the press

People, beware of so-called BS "quotes" like that.

Not to minimize the horrible circumstances of the Kurdish people, but I really dislike this kind of political glad-handing...oh, yes, I'm still not a Bush WAR-hawk, either!

But I do object to unsubstantive propoganda.

[reticent]

Are you talking about the people in northern Iraq that we were helping until they sold out the US to Saddam by giving him our plans and routes of flight? Are you talking about those Kurds?

So the Turks want to prevent an influx of refugees? This is common practice for nations bordering nations that have severe problems, like Iraq has.

[Knothead]

Originally posted by reticent
Are you talking about the people in northern Iraq that we were helping until they sold out the US to Saddam by giving him our plans and routes of flight? Are you talking about those Kurds?

Not meaning to undermine your analysis here, Reticent but...Look, let's understand something real quick here:

Us people in America? We are really wealthy and secure next to these miserable people. We go to bed at night with a reasonable expectation that our world will look pretty much the same way as previous....these people live under no such LUXURY.

Plus, they have no idea (heavy accent) "what is american way, what is alternative, all are same when it may be starvation for my family tomorrow...or shooting murder!"

I say cut 'em some slack. We can afford to. Besides, hardly anybody else does.

[M_Six]

The entire area is another no-win situation. Thousand-year-old quarrels like that cannot be solved until one side annihilates the other. There are few, if any, examples in history of long standing feuds between two ethno-religiously diverse peoples being solved peacefully. They can be buried under an iron fist, as was the case in Yugoslavia under Tito, but sooner or later the lid comes off and it's back to business as usual.

Some examples:
The Balkans
Northern Ireland
The Middle East
Somalia
India/Pakistan
Afghanistan

Conflict in these regions is a way of life. No amount of diplomacy will ever solve the issues.

[Chuckiechan]

The Kurds hand just got a lot stronger! With Turkey screwing the USA, we may allow the Kurds to manage the oil fields in the Norhern no fly zone! The Turks may make a grab for it and find the CIA and well armed Kurds guarding the wells with M-16's! Turkey cannot justify a push into Iraq, nor genocide against the Kurds unless we let them. We just unpunched their ticket! The Turks will have to make nice to the Kurds, since Turkey, Syria, and Jordan are the only realistic markets the Kurds have close to them. May make the best of all bargans.

[Theophylact]

Turkey's parliament voted today to open its air space to US aircraft.

...the Turkish parliament also authorized Turkish soldiers to enter northern Iraq to create what would amount to a buffer zone.

Turkish officials are concerned that if a U.S.-led coalition topples Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Kurds in northern Iraq could gain control of Iraqi oil fields and use that as leverage to create an independent Kurdish territory in northern Iraq.

That could prompt Kurds in southeastern Turkey could rise up as well, Ankara fears.

Another bad day for the Kurds.

[Theophylact]

Turkey's new Prime Minister, in an interview in the Washington Post, says Colin Powell sold the Kurds down the river:

The latest demand from Secretary Powell was for overflights only. When we were asked for overflight rights, we said we would like to see Turkish troops in northern Iraq and they approved that.

Are you sure? Reportedly, the U.S. did not approve.

Our foreign minister made this agreement during that discussion with Colin Powell.

[Theophylact]

...screwing of the Kurds...