by Amy Goodman President Bush has asked Congress for another $46 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The request brings this year’s total to more than $196 billion — by the far the highest amount since the 9/11 attacks. If the trend continues, war funding could top $1 trillion by the time Bush leaves office. By some measures, that amount would exceed the cost of the Korean
(Al-Manar TV) — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in Ankara on Wednesday that Damascus would back a possible Turkish incursion into northern Iraq to crack down “against terrorist activities” there. “We support the decisions the Turkish government has put on its agenda against terrorism and terrorist activities,” Assad told reporters after talks with Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul. “We see this as Turkey’s legitimate right,” he said. He was speaking shortly
Today I am publishing an interview which truly gives me great pleasure: my Q&A email exchange with Mizgîn, a Kurd who has studied in the West and who generally supports the PKK. That is all I can say about her as in fact that is all I know about her. And that is how it should be. On my blog, names do not matter, not even self-evidently nonsensical ones (like,
by Jacques N. Couvas ANKARA – The button of the stopwatch counting down the invasion of northern Iraq by the Turkish army was probably pressed on Tuesday, at an impromptu meeting between Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The two men have, in theory, scheduled meetings on Thursdays, which are often not maintained, as they do not see politically eye-to-eye. The surprise meeting on Tuesday
ANKARA, June 27–The head of Turkey’s powerful armed forces reaffirmed on Wednesday his view that a cross-border operation into northern Iraq was needed to crush Kurdish rebels based there. His comments pile more pressure on Turkey’s government to allow a military operation, just weeks before parliamentary polls. The staunchly secular military dislikes the Islamic-rooted ruling AK Party and political analysts say the generals are trying to portray it as weak
The Turkish Incursion By PATRICK COCKBURN Several thousand Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish guerrillas early Wednesday. The incursion, though limited in scope, gives the crisis in Iraq a new twist. “It is not a major offensive and the number of troops is not in the tens of thousands,” said an official in south-east Turkey where there has recently been an upsurge in activity by the
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s Foreign Ministry and military General Staff on Wednesday denied a Web site report that 50,000 Turkish troops had crossed into northern Iraq to crush Kurdish rebels hiding there. “This report is not true,” a Foreign Ministry source told Reuters. A General Staff official described the report as “disinformation”. The report, carried on the DEBKAfile Web site, sparked jitters among foreign investors who fear Turkish military action
June 6, 2007, 3:41 PM (GMT+02:00) DEBKAfile The official Turkish news agency Cihan reports the force, backed by armored vehicles and combat aircraft, is targeting rebel strongholds in 11 provinces in southeastern Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan Wednesday, June 6. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that this is only the first wave of Turkish invaders, with more to come. A Turkish force of 90,000 troops has been massed at the sourthern town
