Iraq Today

And the news just keeps getting better.
First of course the Iraqi Parliament in the "secure and fortified green zone" was bombed killing eight including three members of parliament. This was shortly after a suicide truck bomb collapsed the Al-Sarafiyah bridge in Baghdad killing ten.
But even more disturbing is this:
Turkish Army Seeks OK for Iraq Raids

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkey's military asked the government Thursday to approve attacks on Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, signaling growing frustration over a lack of action against the guerrillas by Iraqi and U.S. forces.

Such action could put an overstretched U.S. military in the middle of a fight between two crucial partners, the Turks and the Iraqi Kurds. A recent surge in Kurdish attacks in southeastern Turkey has increased the pressure on Turkey's military to act.

``An operation into Iraq is necessary,'' Gen. Yasar Buyukanit told reporters.

Buyukanit said the military already has launched operations against separatists in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeastern region bordering Iraq.

``Our aim is to prevent them from taking positions in the region with the coming of spring,'' he said, adding the rebels generally intensify attacks as melting snow opens the mountain passes.

Recent clashes have killed 10 soldiers and 29 Kurdish guerrillas, Buyukanit said.

Our friend Cernig at NewsHog explains how this puts the Bush administration between a very big rock and a very hard hard place.

Should the Turkish army cross the border, the Bush administration will be forced to choose between two evils. Back the Kurds and they will find themselves in a fight against a NATO ally with a massive military. Back Turkey, even by a diplomatic deal whereby Turkey doesn't attack in return for the US actually doing something about the PKK, and Kurdish Iraq's acceptance of the occupation will literally go up in smoke. Then the Iraqi army has to make the same set of choices, knowing some of their most effective units are manned entirely by Kurdish peshmerga militiamen who were loyal to the PKK before joining the IA. If the US and Iraq choose different sides it would lead to the probability of clashes between them all across Iraq.

And then there is Iran, waiting in the wings, fully aware that if Turkey has the right to invade Iraq in pursuit of PKK terrorists then Iran does too.

As Cernig notes the US military is stretched so thin it really can't do anything about it. Any administration that didn't have it's head so far up it's ass would have seen this coming. Of course we are dealing with the Bush/Cheney cabal here.