More advice, Mr. President?

So, here’s how I see things shaping up in the region once known as Mesopotamia… and here’s what I think our PotUS can do about it.

We have a NATO ally in Turkey that is shelling the be-jesus out of the Iraqi frontier because of PKK terror and kidnapping raids into Turkey. There may now be as many as 150,000 Turkish troops on the Iraqi border, simply waiting for the word to invade one third of Iraq and remove, once and for all, the “threat” they perceive from the Kurdish nationals.

We also have a NATO ally in Turkey that is seven kinds of pissed off at the US Congress for even considering to pass a resolution stating in no uncertain terms that the acts of a 92-year-old (and now non-existent) regime were, in fact, genocide and should be seen as “Crimes against Humanity”.

Furthermore, we have yet another organization in Iraq that is operating outside of the Iraqi, Coalition, US or UN efforts with acts of terror, kidnapping and murder across international boundaries, and that organization is the PKK. This is simply another group of militant murderers who will commit any crime they feel needed to get what they want, regardless of cost or consequences. It is also just another group of radicals that are accomplishing nothing if they are not helping to promote the destabilization of Iraq in the eyes of the world.

My advice to you, Mr. President, is really rather simple…

Coordinate with the Turks and the “legitimate” Iraqi and Kurdish authorities and allow a “joint” Turkish-US-Iraqi force to go into the Kurdish areas and wipe out the PKK as the terrorists they have shown themselves to be. The elected Kurdish leaders in Baghdad have decried and denounced the PKK actions, and have even called on the US to intervene to avoid direct Turkish action across the border, so they must have admitted that nothing the PKK is doing is in the Iraqi Kurd’s best interests, right? All the PKK is doing is bring a WHOLE lot of unwanted heat on the Iraqi Kurds, who are close enough to autonomy to taste it for the first time since Saladin ruled the region.

This accomplishes several ends at once, with minimum exposure for the US.

1) The Turks are forced by necessity to deal with the Iraqi Kurds as legitimate statesmen… something that has never happened in the past.

2) The Turks are allowed a hand in defining how the Iraqi “security forces” are to view their northern neighbor… as an ally willing to assist and aid, or as a constant potential enemy, simply waiting to invade and destroy another version of an ethnic group that has plagued them for nearly two centuries.

3) The President would be giving the Turks the means to “write” their own record of how modern-day Turkey deals with ethnic issues. Were Turkey to cooperate in an operation against PKK with the Iraqi and US forces in Iraq, and the operation went smoothly and ended to the satisfaction of all involved (barring the PKK, that is), then it could throw that right back into Pelosi and Co.’s face, just as the House votes on whether or not to officially condemn the “Ottomans” for the murder and carnage of June, 1915.

4) The US as a whole, and the US Forces in Iraq specifically, see one more insurgent terrorist threat eliminated by civilized Western forces cooperating against them… while nations like Syria and Iran get to see that the ties and allegiances of international groups like NATO and the Coalition aren’t simply “paper tigers”… all roar and no bite.

This could, given a lot of luck and even more planning and preparation, be as short an operation as 30 to 60 days… or it could embroil the Turks in an Iraqi meat-grinder the likes of which it hasn’t seen since Gallipoli in 1915. Still, it’s worth the chance and the possibility of rewards (I think) out weigh the possibility of high costs.

If the President is going to “talk” to Turkey anyway… why not talk about this? Plan this out, and get it done… fast and furious.