THE VARIETIES OF TREASON

"Is there not some chosen curse,
Some hidden thunder in the stores of heaven,
Red with uncommon wrath, to blast the man
Who owes his greatness to his country's ruin?"
~ Joseph Addison.

Guess who's arranging an oil deal between Turkey, Kazakhstan, and "Northern Iraq"? The Prince of Darkness himself. Yes, that would be prominent neocon and Turkish agent, Richard Perle. A little bird dropped this into my email today:

Iraq War Advocate Denies Taking Part In a Consortium


Influential former Pentagon official Richard Perle has been exploring going into the oil business in Iraq and Kazakhstan, according to people with knowledge of the matter and documents outlining possible deals.

Mr. Perle, one of a group of security experts who began pushing the case for toppling Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein about a decade ago, has been discussing a possible deal with officials of northern Iraq's Kurdistan regional government, including its Washington envoy, according to these people and the documents.

It would involve a tract called K18, near the Kurdish city of Erbil, according to documents describing the plan. A consortium founded by Turkish company AK Group International is seeking rights to drill there, the documents say. Potential backers include two Turkish companies as well as Kazakhstan, according to individuals involved.

AK's chief executive is Aydan Kodaloglu, who, like Mr. Perle, has been involved with the American Turkish Council, an advocacy group in Washington. She didn't respond to requests for comment. Phyllis Kaminsky, who identified herself as the U.S. contact for Ms. Kodaloglu, said she herself was aware of the drilling plan but referred questions about it to Mr. Perle.

"Richard would know the most," Ms. Kaminsky said. "He is involved, I know that."

This comes from the WSJ, but you'll need a subscription to read it there.

Now the KRG sees fit to do business with this bunch of devils? This is treason against the Kurdish people.

Aydan Kodaloğlu, the founder of the AK Group International in question, is a former board member of the ATC (American Turkish Council--not so much an "advocacy group" as an MİT asset), and "is a recognized expert on Turkish-American and Turkish-Israeli relations. Ms. Kodaloglu was a member of official delegations of former President Turgut Ozal and Prime Ministers Suleyman Demirel, and Tansu Ciller and was involved in the planning for the official visit to Turkey of former U.S. President George Bush." So this woman is clearly no friend of the Kurdish people and there should be extreme public censure of those Kurds who choose to do business with her.

That the Prince of Darkness himself has a pedigree that's also hostile to the Kurdish people, as well as to any theoretical description of democracy. Perle holds a position of prominence in Sibel Edmonds' gallery of rogues but, as Sibel's information shows, scumbags like Perle have long profited from Turkey and for Turkey:

Someone has to be in the middle (of the Turkish, Israeli, American military/economic machine) to keep the happy affair going, so enter the neocons, intent on securing Israel against all comers and also keen to turn a dollar. In fact the neocons seem to have a deep and abiding interest in Turkey, which, under other circumstances, might be difficult to explain. Doug Feith's International Advisors Inc, a registered agent for Turkey in 1989 - 1994, netted $600,000 per year from Turkey, with Richard Perle taking $48,000 annually as a consultant.

[ . . . ]

Contracts in the hundreds of millions, or even billions of dollars provide considerable fat for those well placed to benefit. Investigators are also looking at Israel's particular expertise in the illegal sale of US military technology to countries like China and India. Fraudulent end-user certificates produced by Defense Ministries in Israel and Turkey are all that is needed to divert military technology to other, less benign, consumers. The military-industrial-complex/neocon network is also well attested. Doug Feith has been associated with Northrup Grumman for years, while defense contractors fund many neocon-linked think tanks and "information" services. Feith, Perle and a number of other neocons have long had beneficial relationships with various Israeli defense contractors.

There's more on that at Deep Journal. Let's not forget that Perle was one of the co-authors of the "Clean Break" that created the alliance between the members of the Iron Triangle--the US, Israel, and Turkey.

Kiss democracy in South Kurdistan goodbye; Show's over, folks.

The Ankara regime is using the excuse of the Güngören bombing to bomb civilians in South Kurdistan. Fırat News reports that the villagers have emptied Bokriskan village in the Qendil region. The Turkish military conducted aerial bombing over the Balekan valley, Lewce, Inzo, and Bokriskan villages, and Geliye Bedran. In the villages where civilians were targeted, a lot of animals have been killed and the irrigation project under construction in Bokriskan has been totally destroyed. The people themselves have fled to Çoman and Ranya.

The PUK confirmed the attacks. HPG confirmed that Turkish aircraft had bombed civilian areas and also confirmed that it suffered no casualties--in stark contrast to the BS being served up in Turkish media. The attacks started forest fires in the Zap and Haftanin regions. Not too surprising as the entire region has been suffering a severe drought for months now.

On 27 July, the Turkish military conducted a comprehensive attack against PJAK positions, reinforcing the fact that Turkey and Iran are cooperating in their war against the Kurdish people.

On 24 July, Turkish aircraft attacked Çemço, Saca, and Şamke villages in the Zap region. On 19 July at 1920 hours, TSK artillery shelled the villages of Maye, Ormana, and Ura, in Kanimasi, Amediye region. At 0200 hours on the same day, Turkish bombing began and did not end until 0720 hours. On 18 July at 1230 hours, Turkish aircraft bombed the Deraluk district, Nerwe and Rekane villages, also in the Amediye region.

Yesterday, I mentioned that the grenades found in the Ergenekon house in Istanbul Ümraniye had been traced to Şemdinli. Today, Radikal has a fairly long article on the subject. To make a long story short, the Ergenekon chief prosecutor Zekeriya Öz ordered an investigation into the grenades. That investigation shows that the grenades were seized in a police operation against Turkish Hezbollah in Şırnak, in 1999. There, the grenades were further linked to a TSK major, Mehmet Zekeriya Öztürk, an Ergenekon member who had been stationed in Şırnak from August 1997 to August 1999.

Yaşar Büyükanıt, now the chief of the Turkish general staff, served in The Southeast from 1997 to 2000. Like the Ergenekon grenades, Büyükanıt was also linked to the Şemdinli bombing when he admitted that he knew the bombers, TSK non-commissioned officers Ali Kaya and Özcan İldeniz. Büyükanıt said that he knew them and that they were "good boys". In fact, Büyükanıt knew them so well that when Van prosecutor Ferhat Sarıkaya tried to indict Büyükanıt for his involvement in the Şemdinli bombing, Sarıkaya was told to shut up, go away, and don't bother practicing law ever again.

Büyükanıt is also a party to the Dolmabahçe Deal with the AKP. And so the Deep State comes full circle.

HİLMİ AYDOĞDU CONVICTED AND BANNED

"A person who openly incites groups of the population to breed enmity or hatred towards one another based on social class, race, religion, sect or regional difference in a manner which might constitute a clear and imminent danger to public order shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a term of one to three years."
~ TCK, Article 216.

Some commentary on the NYTimes article documenting the tight relationship between the Pentagon and the worthless American media, from Salon's Glenn Greenwald:

I was hoping to write about the fallout from the NYT's Saturday story regarding the media's use of Pentagon-controlled "independent" military analysts, but there hasn't really been any fallout at all. Despite being accused by the NYT in a very lengthy, well-documented expose of misleadingly feeding government propaganda to their viewers and readers, virtually all media outlets continue their steadfast refusal to address or even acknowledge the story. How can "news" organizations refuse to address -- just completely ignore -- accusations which fundamentally indict their behavior as "journalists"?

As I noted on Sunday, the most striking part of the roughly-7000-word article was that several of the most guilty news outlets -- CBS, NBC and Fox -- just outright refused to answer the NYT's questions about their use of military analysts, what they knew about their analysts' dealings with the Pentagon and the defense industry, and what procedures they use (then and now) to ensure that they don't broadcast government propaganda disguised as independent analysis. Identically, other news organizations not explicitly mentioned by the NYT article but which used some of the tainted sources (such as The Washington Post) have similarly failed to address their role in disseminating this Pentagon-controlled propaganda.

[ . . . ]

. . . [N]ow we have what is by all metrics a huge new story regarding more fundamental media failures (at best), and they collectively invoke the Kremlin-like methods of Dick Cheney -- they refuse to comment, refuse to reveal even the most basic facts about what they did, and do everything possible to hide behind the wall of secrecy they maintain. They don't even feel the slightest bit obligated to say whether they have any procedures to prevent manipulation of this sort in the future. And those classic information-suppressing tactics are all being invoked by news organizations -- which claim to be devoted to disclosing, not concealing, scandals, corruption and facts about how our political institutions function.

[ . . . ]

Whatever one's views are on the media's proper role and its obligations to its viewers and readers (if any), this is a major story by any measure. These media outlets were either duped by the Bush administration and their own sources into feeding government war propaganda to their audience, or were knowingly complicit in doing that.

The fact that they simply refuse to account for their behavior -- hiding behind "no comment" walls of obfuscation or issuing cursory, empty statements -- demonstrates rather conclusively that they are in the business of doing everything except revealing relevant news to their audience. It's really the height of hubris, and unmistakable proof of their core corruption, that not even a front-page, lengthy NYT expose can cause them to address their central, ongoing role in uncritically disseminating government propaganda about the weightiest of matters.

Contrary to the propaganda in Western media, recent Turkish airstrikes in South Kurdistan have not hit any Kurdish freedom fighters. According to Firat News, however, the following villages were bombed Tuesday in the Xakurke region: Elmuşa Seri, Elmuşa Xware, Kewet, Derwa, and Spiyaran. The bombing began at 1615 hours and lasted some 45 minutes.

Also this week, Hilmi Aydoğdu was convicted for saying, "The two sides in this war would be Turkey and the Kurds in Iraq. There are some 20 million Kurds in Turkey, and the 20 million Kurds would regard such a war as an attack against them. . . Any attack on Kirkuk would be considered an attack on Diyarbakir." From Asharq Alaawsat:

A Turkish court on Tuesday convicted a Kurdish politician of inciting hatred and sentenced him to 15 months in prison for suggesting that Kurds would fight Turkey if it ever attacked Kurds in Iraq.

Hilmi Aydogdu was found guilty of threatening public safety after he warned Turkey against taking any action in the oil-rich Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

Aydogdu, leader of a local branch of a pro-Kurdish party, made the comments last year amid suggestions that Turkey could take military action to prevent Iraqi Kurdish groups from seizing control of Kirkuk.

The court in Diyarbakir, southeast Turkey, also barred Aydogdu from holding public office. Aydogdu was expected to appeal the verdict.

More news on that in English from KurdPress.com. Yeni Özgür Politika adds that charges for similar statements made by Sabahattin Korkmaz of TEVKURD were dismissed by the Diyarbakir Criminal Court No. 6, yet Diyarbakir Criminal Court No. 8 convicted Aydoğdu and banned him from politics for the same charge. As explained by Sezgin Tanrıkulu, one of Aydoğdu's lawyers, Aydoğdu's statement contains nothing to "incite hatred" but merely explains the reality of what would happen in the event of a Turkish attack against Kerkuk.

Does anyone think that the Şemdinli bombers were charged with "inciting hatred"? What about all those security forces who murdered civilians during the Amed Serhildan? Or those security forces who murdered Ferho and Fatma Akgül? What about Hrant Dink? Have his murderers been charged with "inciting hatred" . . . . even when Ogün Samast shouted, "I shot the Armenian" immediately after pulling the trigger? What about Malatya, the priest murdered in Trabzon, priest knifed in Izmir . . ?

Nah, I didn't think so either.

DTP MARCHES TO THE MOUNTAINS

"I greet you all from the bottom of my heart. This march is a march of honour. We march so that no mother has to cry for her children any more. We want an honourable life and we want the whole world to see it."
~ Osman Baydemir.

Hevallo has some photos of the DTP's march to the mountains, along with a report from Bianet on the march and its purpose.

TDN also has a report touching on events from Istanbul to Urfa, Kars to Batman to Şirnak, and they are facing the usual regime-enforced hassles:

The DTP's Istanbul deputy, Sebahat Tuncel, who was with the convoy, said at 11:00 p.m., "we are being searched for the fourth time. We left Istanbul at noon. We will go to Şırnak even if it takes a week." The police confiscated the placards on the buses before allowing the convoy to proceed.

The DTP's Şanlıurfa chief, İbrahim Ayhan, claimed the DTP's supporters from all around the country were being prevented from traveling to Şırnak, claiming that drivers of buses and vans were being fined. The DTP's Şanlıurfa deputy, İbrahim Binici, said their attempt was a last ditch effort to protect the brotherhood in the country, adding that they will call for peace in tents they erect at Kasrik.

The vans with which the DTP's convoy from Adana was traveling had to be replaced with buses because the police said the vans did not have the commercial license needed to travel outside the provincial borders.

[People attend a demonstration in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir against cross-border operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq by the Turkish Army February 5, 2008. REUTERS/Stringer (TURKEY)]












And so it went in Kars, Batman, Dersim.

Şırnak deputy, Hasip Kaplan, said if they are prevented from practicing their rights and freedoms, they will resort to civil disobedience. He said their choice for Karsik has a symbolic meaning, adding that the region was routinely used by the military for target practice.

The military has increased security around the Karsik region, which separates the Cudi and Küpeli mountains.

Of course, Fethullah Gülen's Zaman resembled Chicken Little, by attempting to blame DTP for "rais[ing] tension":

The first group, made up of 3,000 supporters including those coming from İstanbul, Mersin and Gaziantep, departed Diyarbakır for Şırnak despite the fact that the Interior Ministry did not issue permission for such an activity.

Before leaving for Diyarbakır one DTP group gathered in front of the DTP building on İstanbul’s Tepebaşı Street and marched towards Dolapdere Street, carrying a banner that said “We march against the [military] operations and in favor of a democratic solution.” DTP İstanbul deputy Sabahat Tuncel spoke to the press at the gathering and said that the group’s aim was to highlight the Kurdish problem and to put an end to tension in southeastern Anatolia.

“Turkey’s agenda is busy with other topics, but the Kurdish question is more urgent,” Tuncel said. However, she refused to comment further on what they will do in Diyarbakır and Şırnak. The group then departed in seven buses.

[Protesters hold portraits of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir February 5, 2008, during a demonstration against cross-border operations against the PKK in northern Iraq by the Turkish Army. REUTERS/Stringer (TURKEY)]










Yes, Turkey's agenda is busy with other topics like turban--the headscarf--a ridiculous distraction for a so-called secular society that is conducting a 30-year war against one-fourth of its own citizens and is bombing the citizens of a neighboring country.

The gathering of so many Kurds in one place increases the pucker factor of the Turkish military (and so it should given the institutionalized incompetence of the TSK):

The gendarmerie maintained a heightened level of security in the province of Şırnak yesterday as groups of pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) supporters began returning from Mt. Cudi, where they had gathered on Tuesday to protest Turkish military operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Or maybe all those brave defenders of America's puppet are simply afraid of little, old Emine Ayna:

Speaking to the press before their departure, DTP Co-chairman Emine Ayna, who joined the march to the mountains, called for Parliament to put an end to the legislation that allows the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) to conduct operations against the PKK in northern Iraq and for the PKK to lay down its arms.

Ayna noted, "We hope that our demands will be more meaningful and heard better from here since this is the location where most of the deaths occur."

Saying that the lack of action in dealing with the Kurdish issue had caused deaths, Ayna argued that the Turkish government needs to decide on a solution as soon as possible. She also argued that the PKK is an outcome of the Kurdish problem, adding that rooting the PKK out would not help solve the problem.

Ayna also said: "Each death provokes more hatred among the people. We can solve all the matters by discussion, without anyone dying. Turkey should seek the solution within itself. The US and Europe move only in accordance with their own interests. The permanent solution lies in the equal and free union of all the people of Turkey."

The whole purpose of the march to the mountains is to protest the joint US-Israel-Turkey bombing of South Kurdistan:

Turkish warplanes bombed more than 70 targets in northern Iraq on Monday as part of the government's ongoing battle with a militant Kurdish group that uses the area as a base for attacks in Turkey.

Villagers said they were unable to flee the bombing, which took place at about 3 a.m., because heavy snow had closed many roads.

The severe weather also made it impossible for local officials to determine whether the strikes caused casualties, said Brig. Gen. Omar Sharif of the Iraqi border forces.

[ . . . ]

Sharif said bombs hit the villages of Khou Kurki, Khunereh, Sheneeneh and Lolan in the Sidikan area of Irbil province. He said the bombing lasted at least three hours.

Again its the villagers who are unable to flee the bombing, not the guerrillas because the guerrillas aren't there. Turkey continues to bomb civilians, just like their allies, the Americans and Israelis, and the KRG supports Turkish operations by banning journalists from the region.

I guess it's true then, that the Americans really did bring democracy to South Kurdistan--the same democracy that the US has long supported in Turkey.

BLACK OPERATIONS IN THE KURDISH CAPITAL

"A good Kurd is a dead Kurd."
~ Türk İntikam Tugayı, 12 September 2006.

The last bombing in Amed (Diyarbakır), carried out on 12 September 2006, was the work of Turkish state forces, in particular Türk Intikam Tugayı (Turkish Revenge Brigade--TİT). At the time, TİT claimed the bombing on their website (quickly pulled from the Internet shortly thereafter):

"To the great Turkish people. In the recent period in many areas of our country, the bloody PKK terrorist organization has martyred our soldiers, police officers and our youth. We, as the Turkish Revenge Brigade, swear on our flag colored red with the blood of our martyrs, that for every Turk that PKK kills in [western Turkey], we will kill 10 Kurds in Diyarbakir. [ . . .] Here are photos taken during the preparation for the operation on September 12, 2006, dedicated to Private Ali Balikci who was martyred during duty by the PKK terrorist organization in the Eruh district of Siirt [ . . . ] A good Kurd is a dead Kurd."

DozaMe captured the photos for posterity from TİT's website and can be viewed at the .pdf link given above.

It looks like TİT has carried out another bombing in Amed today, again detonating the blast with a remote-control device:

A bomb exploded near a shopping mall in the largely Kurdish city of Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey on Thursday, killing five people and wounding more than 60, in the largest attack on a Turkish city in months, the authorities said.

The bomb was placed in a parked car and detonated by remote control shortly before 5 p.m., just as a shuttle bus carrying military personnel passed, Turkish officials said.

At this point, unfortunately, Turkish soldiers only appear to have been wounded and reports indicate that TİT's blast only managed to kill civilians--school kids.

You should ask yourself who it is that can pack a car full of explosives, park it next to a Turkish military compound in The Southeast, and blow it up? Remember how the attempted assassination of Beytuşşebap's DTP mayor was set up? Does anyone honestly think that PKK sympathizers who set cars on fire with molotov cocktails could possibly drive around in The Southeast with that much explosives and not be stopped?

Or, if someone wants to believe that PKK sneaked so much explosives across the border from Iraq, how could they get it passed the hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the region? How could they drive it through OHAL areas without being stopped?

No. Only the Ankara regime could carry out such an attack in the world's largest Kurdish city.

The Turkish education minister tried to fudge his way around the bombing by saying, "I deeply condemn this blast if it is the result of a terrorist attack," which means that he's not condemning it because, in his view, it was not a terrorist attack. It was an attack by the Turkish Republic, and is, therefore, acceptable to the regime.

Let's note one other piece of trivia, shall we? The date of the Ankara regime's last bombing of Amed was significant as the date of the beginning of the current war against the Kurdish people--12 September 1980. In addition, 12 September 2006 was the day that Lockheed Martin's "PKK coordinator" Joseph Ralston arrived in Ankara on his first official mission as "PKK coordinator":

It is no coincidence that this most recent attack against the Kurdish people happened on the same day that "special envoy" Joseph Ralston arrived in Ankara. The US is backing Turkey in its renewal of the Dirty War, and the bombing in Amed is one more sign that "psychological operations," a special kind of warfare for which the US trained Turkish security forces, are being resurrected.

It's also no coincidence that this recent attack by the racist Ankara regime takes place just days before Abdullah Gül's 6 January visit to the US. I mean, he has to come with a reason to beg and I guess he couldn't find any Saudis to fly commercial jet aircraft into the Dedeman Hotel, so he has to settle for a TİT bomb.

AMED IS BOMBED AGAIN

Vehicles burn after an explosion in Diyarbakir, south eastern Turkey, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2008. A car bomb exploded in the Kurdish-dominated southeastern city of Diyarbakir on Thursday, wounding at least 20 people, including some military personnel, news reports said. (AP Photo/Ibrahim Yakut, Anatolia)

Vehicles are engulfed by flames following an explosion in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, January 3, 2008. REUTERS

Turkish police officers inspect the wreckage of a military bus following an explosion in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir January 3, 2008. At least three people were killed in an explosion on Thursday that wrecked a military vehicle in the southeast Turkish city of Diyarbakir, NTV television quoted police sources as saying. REUTERS/Anatolian

Police inspect the area of an explosion in Diyarbakir. A powerful car bomb exploded Thursday near a military base in Diyarbakir, the main city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, killing five people, hospital officials said. (AFP)

HPG HEADQUARTERS COMMANDER: AN EMPTY ENDEAVOR

"PKK has 24 years of war experience and all the regional powers came to defeat it; however, they could not. PKK has passed its exam."
~ Bahoz Erdal, HPG Headquarters Commander.

Here's a short interview with HPG Headquarters Commander Bahoz Erdal, on the recent American-Turkish attacks in the Medya Defense Zones:

On the 16th of December, the Turkish army conducted an air strike. The Turkish media claimed that a large number of gerilas were killed. What can you say about this?


For a long time there were preparations for such attacks. Through [Turkish] propaganda and the media, preparations had been made for these attacks. Whenever it gets stuck against our forces in the resistance, as a pretext, the Turkish army targets South Kurdistan and the regions in which we reside. Both Turkish officials and Turkish media showed the people that if there were an attack against South Kurdistan and the Medya Defense Zones, then the PKK would completely perish and the question would be solved. They had great expectations in this attack. They made everyone focus here and motivated people for a possible attack.

This attack was made by more than 50 aircraft. This attack was implemented with the clear support of the US. After this attack, the statements of the Turkish General Staff and Turkish media was showing as if they had come and hit us, as if we had serious casualties, and as if we were in a weak position. They tried to show it as if it were a successful attack, a successful, unique attack that destroyed us remarkably and took us a couple of years back. All these things are lies and very far from the truth. As the statement that we made on the first day, 5 guerrillas were martyred and 3 friends were wounded. Except for this, we had no other losses.


What are the reasons that the Turkish army and media twist the truth?


The goal is as follows: One, the Turkish army could not be successful in North Kurdistan by suffering serious casualties and meeting severe resistance by our guerrillas. For that reason, this demoralized the psychology of the troops, the army, and the state. In order to break down that demoralization, they had to give a response. They wanted to make it happen with this attack; however, they could not succeed in this recent attack as well. For that reason, they want to cover this. They are trying to show a very unsuccessful thing as if it were very successful; they are trying to cover their weakness and failure.

The other goal is the civilian villagers in South Kurdistan who had been targeted and destroyed. It is known that two civilians were killed, that there were numerous wounded, many houses collapsed, hundreds of animals died, and schools destroyed. Hospitals were damaged. The martyrdom of our comrades, who died in this attack, were the targets of the attack. These are the concrete results of the attack. With these, actually the reality of the attack is revealed. Firstly, this attack was not successful. Secondly, the aim of this attack was not PKK, as they claim. The aim is the Kurdish people. This could be either PKK guerrillas or a villager from South Kurdistan. It is clearly revealed in this way. They are insistently trying to hide this reality. For that reason, they desperately need to lie. It is very strange when we listen to the Turkish media; Our friends [guerrillas] who lived through the attack here are laughing at them. However, the people who do not know the reality of our struggle--and Turkey's reality--who look at these incidents from outside, think that the world has collapsed [from this attack].


What can you say about the attitude of the Southern Kurdistan authority for the people and the animals who were killed as a result of the bombing?


The attitude of South Kurdistan's political forces against the cross-border legislation in the TBMM was a correct attitude that served the Kurdish people. This attitude was strengthening them, too, however they stepped back. A different approach occurred and this new approach brought suspicion among all the Kurds against them. As a result, the suspicion creates a reaction in the people. This new attitude is harming the unity of the Kurdish democratic national movement. The strengthening of the Kurdish democratic national movement means their strengthening and empowers their hand. If the South Kurdistan federal government wants to survive--wants to be defended--this is only possible with the creation of a Kurdish national attitude. If the Kurdish federal government does not see the interests of all Kurdistan, but narrows itself down to South Kurdistan's boundaries, it will drown. We say that this fact must be realized. There are some Kurdish politicians, however, who did not even say anything about these attacks. They [the Turks] attacked your territory, destroyed your villages, martyred your people--there is no voice coming from them. They have shut their eyes and ears as if saying, "We did not see or hear anything." The reactions against the operation are not sufficient and they are late. The step back after the cross-border legislation encouraged Turkey. Now Turkey is thinking, "So then, if I blackmail, if I suppress, I will get a result."

But the reality is that the Turkish government does not trust South Kurdistan's political forces as well. Even if KDP and PUK fight with Turkey against us, the Turkish government and army will not trust in them. A national and stable attitude with strengthen them and allow them to breathe. They mustn't be afraid of it. If the Southern Kurdish political forces stay within their own boundaries and cannot see or realize their own responsibilities for Kurdistan in general, they will lose in two ways. The first is that they will lose the Kurdish people, because the Kurdish people will no longer accept neither the fight between brothers nor the interests of only one piece of Kurdistan as superior to the rest. Neither the Kurdish people in general, nor the Southern Kurdish people, will accept this. Our people know the reality now. The second reason is that the international forces can do anything for their own interests. Turkey, Iran, or the US do not have anything to give them at that point. They will lose that side, too. Thus, they will lose both sides. As a result, we say that a proper stance is national and principled, and a stance that seeks the general good of the Kurds in the region would be the correct. Iraqi Kurdistan might be an experiment for this. This is not a weakness for the Kurdistan federal government; on the contrary, it would become strong. This is a reality. For that reason we say that the daily stance and attitudes of hesitation, which lack long-term planning, will only encourage the enemies of the Kurdish people. This will also harm the general freedom struggle of the Kurdish people.


In this war, the attitude of the US becomes important. How do you see the support of the US to Turkey?


This attack has been accomplished with the direct help of the US. During a one month period prior to the attack, US reconnaissance aircraft flew over the region. Opening Iraqi air space, providing intelligence and technical assistance enabled this attack. In that sense, the US is not outside of this attack. The attitude of the US is the attitude of choosing a side in this war. If their attitude continues, we, the Kurdish people, will not accept this. However, it needs to be said that this is not a new thing that the US is helping Turkey. The US has assisted Turkey during 24 years of the war by intelligence, weapons, and politically. Basically it is not new that the US assists Turkey. Yaşar Büyükanıt says, "My happiest day is today; I can sleep comfortably." This is your weakness, you pathetic thing. This shows how weak, how unfortunate you are. The US gave intelligence, opened your way. What did you do? You attacked, then what? What did you gain? The US is not helping you recently; it has helped you for 24 years. All the operations within these 24 years, the US explicitly provided intelligence and political and economic assistance to the Turkish government. Even the international conspiracy [against Öcalan] was orchestrated by the US. Despite all these facts, have you won this war, have you annihilated the PKK guerrilla--the Kurdish guerrilla? Have you implemented the promise that you've always repeated, that is "We will always fight until the last guerrilla?" No. You couldn't. The people who said as you did, couldn't either, but the Kurdish guerrilla remained, the Kurdish movement continued and grew. Today's people will also go, but the guerrillas still will remain and will grow more. Like with these recent attacks, they are trying to convince people with imaginary victories. Otherwise, what else can the US do? Did the US reconnaissance aircraft, satellites, get rid of the problems in Iraq's valleys? Did they bring an end to the losses in Afghanistan, that you are saying you would annihilate PKK with their intelligence? Let's say this: no one can dominate the Kurdish region with their satellites. Thus, let them have their reconnaissance activities. We do not have cities or villages to be cowed. We are guerrillas. Like a snake, we neither have a place to live nor have a house. The Kurdish mountains are rugged. No matter how many reconnaissance aircraft and satellites they have, they will not be able to dominate the guerrilla movement. For that reason, we are saying that they created big hopes, or imaginary victories, for no other reason than to get rid of their psychological weakness.


After the Turkish army's air strike, they wanted to access the Medya Defense Zones by land. What can you say about this?


That's right, that the Turkish army wanted to make attacks on the Geliye Reş region, in Xakurkê. That's all that it was about. It was just an attempt. It was the same as in the Oramar resistance. There, besides defending themselves, our forces also struck them. Thus, from now on, these things are possible. These are not new things in the South. They say that there were 24 operations, but this is not right. Within the period of the struggle, they had more than 100 operations against our Southern Kurdistan forces. They have made all kinds of operations, from the smallest operations to the biggest operations ever in the history of the Turkish Republic. Air strikes and artillery shelling are the kinds of attacks we've seen previously. We also saw their results. They might, from now on, have big or small operations. We are, however, ready to confront all kinds of operations. For all circumstances, we also have various resistance plans. Because we are determined and are technically and educationally prepared, we are completely ready for possible further operations. Even though there might be further air strikes and land operations, there is nothing for them to win. On the contrary, the only excuse they [Turkey] had was "I cannot cope with the North [Kurdistan] because they [the guerrillas] are coming from Southern Kurdistan. My hands are tied. They [the US] don't let me go to Southern Kurdistan. If they had let me, I would finish all of them." Now they have untied your hands and you entered Northern Iraq. Then what, what did you do? Now with what excuses are they going to cover their failure? There is nothing. On the one hand, this operation was good because they don't have that excuse any more. If the US frees their hands, they will come and swallow all of us and take the rest. And now you came, what did you do? Fiasco. For that reason, even if they implement these kinds of operations they will have more losses here than in Northern Kurdistan. Everyone must know this. This will deepen the war and harm everyone. This war will not be limited only to Turkey, but will harm everyone. Everyone must realize this. PKK has 24 years of war experience and all the regional powers came to defeat it; however, they could not. PKK has passed its exam. Once more they are trying to attempt the same thing with their weaker position and under different conditions now. To us, it is an empty endeavor.

[Note: for some ideas about a "national and principled" stance that serves the good of all Kurdistan, see the recent post at Rastbêj, "Cooperate or Die".]

THE PROPAGANDA MODEL WORKS FOR KURDISTAN

"And I cannot find words to describe the heroism of the millions of Kurds living in the dungeon in the Southeast, after having suffered some of the worst atrocities of the 1990s thanks to the enormous arms flow provided by the Clinton administration and the discipline of the educated classes, who hailed the atrocious international terrorism as a model of 'counterterrorism'."
~ Noam Chomsky.

The "worthy" and "unworthy" victims of the Propaganda Model proposed by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman reinforces the "good" Kurd-"bad" Kurd dichotomy of Kevin McKiernan. The news here is that the dichotomy is alive and well in the US media today, according to Anthony DiMaggio at Counterpunch:

American media reports have at times acknowledged Turkish human rights abuses. However, Turkish repression is never framed as terrorism. In addition, Turkish repression of Kurds is presented as a relatively minor setback in the grand scheme of U.S. and European relations with Turkey, as opposed to Saddam Hussein's repression of Iraqi Kurds, which is consistently presented as a major human rights tragedy.

[ . . . ]

Efforts to distinguish between worthy victims (Iraqi Kurds) and unworthy ones (Turkish Kurds) have been somewhat altered, however, in recent years. By 2007, attacks on Iraqi Kurds had also become acceptable in the U.S. media, so long as the aggressor was the Turkish government, rather than Saddam Hussein. The U.S. granted tactical and diplomatic support to the government of Turkey as it bombed various Kurdish areas in northern Iraq, allegedly aimed at PKK rebel targets. Despite reports of civilian deaths, American editorials lent moral support to the Turkish government. The editors at the New York Times postured that "Turkey's anger is understandable. Guerillas from the PKK have been striking from bases in Iraqi Kurdistan with growing impunity and effect. The death toll for Turkish military forces is mounting."

Editors at the New York Times placed responsibility for the violence primarily upon the shoulders of the Kurds, rather than Turkish leaders, as they argued that "The Kurds will find it much easier to prosper if they can live in peace with Turkey." How such cooperation is possible in light of Turkey's systematic human rights violations was not addressed. The paper's editors also portrayed the U.S. as an honest broker between the two sides, rather than a consistent supporter of Turkish repression of the Kurds: "Washington must now try to walk both sides back from this brink. It then should make a serious and sustained effort to broker a long-overdue political agreement between Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan." The editors at the Washington Post also presented the conflict through a pro-Turkish lens. Significant attention was directed to pragmatic assessments of the effectiveness of a Turkish political victory over Kurdish rebels: "The reality is that the PKK threat cannot be quickly eliminated by military means. Neutralizing it will require closer cooperation between Turkish and Iraqi Kurdish authorities, more effective Turkish military operations inside Turkey, and more political reforms in both countries."

This case study is instructive in one important respect: it suggests that American media attention to the repression and terror of foreign countries is not driven by legitimate humanitarian concerns, but by the strength of the alliance between the U.S. and the country in question.

Chomsky and Herman's work, Manufacturing Consent, provides a powerful tool--the Propaganda Model--for reading news, whether in the US or in Turkey. In fact, the Turkish government found the book so dangerous that it brought charges of "insulting Turkishness" and "inciting ethnic hostilities and hatred among the population" against Aram Publishing House for translating the book into Turkish.


I've said it before and I'll say it again: If you want to understand how the media works, you need to read Manufacturing Consent.

Rastî readers will remember Gordon Taylor who's written about the PKK at Progressive Historians. He's got something up at History News Network on Turkey's $20 million sheep-killing fiasco.

Hevallo liked last week's video of HPG air defense units that he went out and found another video, from RojTV, which he's posted, and he refers to the Paşas' current propaganda campaign as "Turkish army psycho lies. . . " I don't know, do you think that's enough to qualify him for charges under Article 301 for "insulting Turkishness?"

Martin Zehr responds to neocon Michael Rubin's latest trash piece in the NYTimes:

Mr. Rubin suggests: “U.S. officials should threaten isolation and a cessation of all financial assistance until Mr. Barzani ceases his safe haven.” Mr. Rubin might pay more attention to the U.S. military aid to Turkey, as a source of the problem. “As a member of NATO and Washington’s ally in the war on terrorism, Turkey is the third largest recipient of U.S. military aid, behind Israel and Egypt. Between 1994 and 2004, it received well over $1.3 billion in FMF and another $21.4 million in IMET.[224] Congress granted another $33 million in FMF and $4 million in IMET in 2005. The President’s request for 2006 is more modest-- $25 million in FMF and $3 million in IMET.”

Suggesting as he does that there is an implicit alliance between President Barzani and the PKK in Iraq Mr. Rubin establishes a weak case. He states: “During its Oct. 21 attack on Turkish troops, PKK tactics mirrored those taught by U.S. Special Forces to Mr. Barzani's peshmerga fighters, suggesting its complicity in training terrorists.” Taken on its face, it presents little documentation in making in its case. But considering the ramifications of such statements, it presents Turkey with a virtual blank check in regards to attacks on the government of the KRG and the territory of the Kurdish Autonomous Region.

Rubin's claim that PKK received US Special Forces training through KDP peşmêrge overlooks the fact that PKK is a highly experienced guerrilla force and that it spent the years of the 1999-2005 ceasefire fruitfully, by implementing changes in HPG's tactics, and training to achieve that end:

The HPG officials said that the TAF has been unsuccessful in its operations and that the HPG’s new way of actions on the basis of small groups of guerrillas with active and high action capacity led to TAF’s classical operation tactic to be in vain.

HPG officials said that as a result of this new way of action, TAF (Turkish Army Forces) had difficulties in “imposing clashes on the guerrilla under its initiative” and that the TAF military troops have become an open target for the guerrilla teams who have spread well into the territory.

[ . . . ]

HPG officials said that this was “a reflection of the strategic changes made” and that the military strategy changed accordingly”. They underlined that “actions undertaken were no longer to establish free areas” but “to force the other side to a resolution”.

They also added that guerrilla losses, as a result, decreased in comparison with past years, but the TAF’s losses increased due to a change in guerrilla movement.

Note that this evaluation is dated May 2005. I guess Rubin can't swallow the fact that PKK has not been trained by anyone but PKK, while the TSK--particularly the Special Teams--were trained by US special operations forces. See Martin Zehr's figures on IMET aid to Turkey, as mentioned in his article and linked above. Remember, IMET is conducted by US special operations types, which have a history of spreading severe human rights abuses wherever they go. See something from US Senator Leahy on that.

More on the fallout from the joint US-Turkish air strikes against Kurdish civilians:

Since Turkish warplanes turned her village home into a heap of rubble last week, mother of eight Aziya Rasheed says she has lost all hope for the future.

Air strikes on mountain villages around the town of Sankasar in northern Iraq on Dec. 16 destroyed much of Rasheed's modest home as the family slept, injuring her 16-year-old daughter so severely that she had to have her leg amputated above the knee.

"We lost everything, even my daughter's leg. Isn't this terrorism from Turkey?" she said angrily.

[ . . . ]

Shlier Khudhur, a 30-year-old woman now living with her brother, sobs as she recalls the night she lost her home.

"I was wounded when the house fell on top of us during the air strikes. We have lost everything we ever owned," she said.

"I wish I had died rather than live through this."

Don't forget, Kurdistan: Erdoğan and Büyükanıt are your brothers in religion. Long live the ummah that has always defended the Kurdish people! Not.

MURAT KARAYILAN: NEW YEAR'S PREDICTIONS

"To Turkey, what did you do with your own power? You cannot pretend as a victorious army by getting the opportunities from the US through begging."
~ Murat Karayılan.

All right, first order of business . . . go over to Hevallo's place and check out his report on the recent conference on the Kurdish situation at Chatham House in the UK. Even TDN picked up on the conclusion of the Chatham House conference:

Turkey can probably never defeat the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and cross-border attacks on its bases in Iraq are almost certainly futile, a leading think-tank said Wednesday.

Chatham House, noting that the Iraqi government is cautious about confronting the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), added that Kurdish nationalism is experiencing a popular and "political renaissance" in the whole region. "The PKK is a well-motivated force that enjoys local support and the protection afforded by the inaccessible terrain of the border regions," it said in a report, released a day after Turkish troops entered northern Iraq.

"Turkey can probably never defeat the PKK and any further incursions across the border are likely to be futile," it added.

Futile, indeed. Hevallo himself called for the decriminalization of PKK and for pressure to be applied to the Ankara regime for a peaceful, negotiated settlement. Also of note from Hevallo's blog is the interview with Osman Baydemir, who says, among other things:

In my personal opinion, the PKK is not the reason behind the Kurdish problem; rather it is an outcome of the Kurdish problem. If the Turkish perception [of the Kurds] since 1924, when the Turkish republic was first established, to date was not the way it is then there would be no reason for the presence of the PKK.

Weapons are never the language of dialogue when it pertains to a problem. If Turkey’s perception of the Kurds remained unchanged then another party would emerge bearing a different name if the PKK were to disappear.

Hevallo also has the intestinal fortitude to dig into Michael Rubin's latest bullshit at the AEI.

In yesterday's post I said: "It would be a mistake to think that Turkey's US-backed attacks against Kurdistan las weekend were an anomaly. Harsh reality is that the "Surge" has gone north and it's now directed against Kurdistan." So it should come as no surprise that there were more air strikes against South Kurdistan on Saturday. Now there isn't much humor to be found in the results of the air attacks, but there's loads of humor to be found in the Paşas' official statements about the attacks:

"It will become well understood how effective the operations against the terrorist operations are," the military's statement said. The PKK "no longer has a chance of success" against the Turkish army.

Actions over recent weeks had left "hundreds of terrorists" dead, it added.

Weren't the Paşas talking that same gû thirty years ago? What do you expect from a pack of dinosaurs with the collective brain mass of a walnut?

On the other hand, if you want something to make you really hot about the joint American-Turkish bombings of civilians, then you have to watch a report from Roj TV, carried over at Özgür Gündem, that shows some of the after effects of the bombing. If you watch the first half of the clip, you won't need to understand a word of Turkish or Kurdish to understand exactly what happened on the ground a week ago. For that reason, I strongly urge everyone to view at least the first half of the video. This is reality which you are never going to see aired in Western media because the West, in collusion with the genocidal Ankara regime, is guilty of the destruction and suffering.

In fact, Murat Karayılan would tell you the very same thing because there's an interview with him at Özgür Gündem, titled "The operation is an international attack," in which the air strikes figure prominently in the discussion. Here is what I consider the meat of the conversation:

This situation, in which you have the US on one side and Iran on the other, shows the reality of the world that is based on profit. It shows how everyone is an actor in the Kurdish question and plays with it. In fact, this situation came up because the Turkish government used its geostrategic situation as a bargaining chip to annihilate the Kurdish Freedom Movement. Turkey is signing agreements with Iran which, just like the Turkish government, has the Kurdish population is under its dominance. All these incidents are based on the Turkish government's policy, which is based on enmity against the Kurds.

Even though the US does not have a resolution to settle the Kurdish question, for its own profit sometimes it recognizes the Kurds as allies and sometimes as enemies. Thus this double standard appears clearly. The US is endeavoring to found a new system in the region based on the support of the Kurds; it is also supporting the Turkish Republic--which is as brutal as the Saddam regime was--by providing intelligence and opening Iraq's air space. Thus it also takes the responsibility for the recent attacks. However, these air strikes and shelling from international cooperation against our movement, resulted in failure. Even though it caused five martyred comrades and two civilian patriots, because of the precautions that our movement took, these attacks were ineffective. Besides, while Iran contributed [to the attacks] by shelling, Iraq's government, was also one of the allies of the attacking countries.

Thus Turkey's claim that our movement gets support from foreign countries is refuted by the international cooperation with the TSK against our movement.

Our movement is one of the unique movements that executes its struggle without having any support from outside, but depends on its own power. The Turkish government claims that our movement is nourished by illegal smuggling, which is a big lie. Firstly, our movement is a movement that is against every kind of drug that is ideologically and morally harmful to humans, and in our daily lives we have proved this. However, the Turkish government uses these kinds of lies in order to cover its weakness. And with these attacks, all we have seen is which side is more dependent on foreign assistance, and who is making everything a bargaining chip.

Another important point is that the US gave intelligence, approval, and, maybe, joined the attack with a couple of its aircraft [see the information on American AWACS at the end of this post--Mizgîn]. But all they did was bomb Kurdish villagers, their homes, killed their animals, destroyed their school and hospital. Despite all these facts, as Turkish media brought up, they are congratulating each other, crying out victory rhetoric, and putting themselves in a funny position in the international arena. To Turkey, what did you do with your own power? You cannot pretend as a victorious army by getting the opportunities from the US through begging.

Buyukanit is proud of knowing what a good servant he is to the US by receiving intelligence from it. However, this is nothing to be proud of, but it is a pitiful situation. With this mentality, it is obvious that they are going to sell Turkey and they will drag the Turkish people into big adventures and make them lose the century.

Karayılan says the Kurdish Freedom Movement expects pinpoint attacks throughout the winter in South Kurdistan. At the same time, they expect that TSK will intensify its brutality in North Kurdistan and that the US, Turkey, Iran, and Iraq will move to narrow the manoeuvrability of the Kurdish Freedom Movement internationally. Karayılan expects that these policies will be executed until the spring and that the main attacks will be against North Kurdistan, where the majority of the gerîlas are located. Although the Ankara regime always points to South Kurdistan as the target, in reality the regime's most intensified attacks against the Kurdish people take place in North Kurdistan.

TSK's attacks against the gerîlas in North Kurdistan will be made with the hope of keeping the gerîlas from making preparations for the spring. As a result, Karayılan says that the spring and summer of 2008 will be very important in terms of the Kurdish struggle in Turkey.

If I've said it once, I've said it one hundred times: Stop the cooperation.

Now, think about this: What was Barzanî doing in Austria a few weeks ago? Think he went there for coffee and pastries, or for the mountain scenery? Think again.

SURGING TOWARD KURDISTAN

"By a combination of creative strategies and advanced technologies, we are redefining war on our terms. In this new era of warfare, we can target a regime, not a nation."
~ George W. Bush, speech to Lockheed Murderers, St. Louis, MO, 16 April 2003.

In the wake of joint US-Turkish attacks against the PKK and Kurdish civilians in South Kurdistan, there's something that Kurds should start thinking about: an air war.

Vineyardsaker sent me some information on just this subject which he picked up from Lenin over at Lenin's Tomb. Lenin got his hands on some statistics on the US air war in Iraq and Afghanistan, which you can take a look at over at his place. Now, this information is no big secret and there have been a few articles about the general, wanton destruction and civilian casualties caused by this method of warfare. Senior British commanders have publicly complained about US Special Forces and the airstrikes they call which kill hordes of civilians. However, I fear that the point made by Lenin on the distinct possibility of the US--and Turkey--using this kind of warfare in Kurdistan should be very well taken [original emphasis by Lenin]:

The hostile terrain of Afghanistan, and the fact that few are actually covering it very extensively, makes it an ideal target for this kind of ferocious assault - with, as we saw last year, a rolling wave of massacres in the country. Inevitably, since the air war hasn't been covered much by the media, and given its insensitivity to 'enemy' casualties, those massacres reported are a tiny sample of the true total.

Did you pay attention to the part about the media? If you have been paying attention to most of the Western media's reporting on the American-Turkish aerial attacks against the Kurdish people, you may have noticed that not much was said about civilian casualties and the destruction of property--which is the shelter and livelihood of the victims. If you've been checking to see what the blogosphere has been writing about these attacks, you will have noticed that there is rarely a mention of civilian victims. The right-wing fascist blogosphere, such as Pajamas Media and the like, have mentioned absolutely nothing about this new air war. But, then, they don't talk about the huge amounts of civilian casualties in Afghanistan, either. They write off every death inflicted by the "noble" coalition as "terrorist" deaths.

Büyükanıt clearly stated that there were absolutely no civilian casualties from his aerial bombardment of Kurdistan and that the entire fiasco was a blazing success. Of course, the Turkish dailies have faithfully reported Büyükanıt's lies and will not dare to contradict their ruler by stating the truth. In short, there has been absolutely no acknowledgement or discussion of the murder of civilians and the destruction of their property in the Turkish dailies.

The only place where I've seen Turkish media mention the reality of the destruction is in an article at Bianet (similar English article here).

The media blackout on the truth about this new type of warfare is something that is planned and promoted by the governments involved, as described in early 2004 by Project on Defense Alternatives. If a bomb falls in Kurdistan and no one hears it, does it matter to anyone what was destroyed?

For more on the obfuscated air war and ignored casualties, see ZNet and TomDispatch.

Here are some of Vineyardsaker's comments on the matter:

The so-called 'Surge', and its alleged success, are based on two fundamental tactics: the first one is the so-called 'Redirection' which consists of buying off the Sunni resistance, including all those groups who only yesterday were called 'terrorists'; the second new tactic is massive increasing in the use of airpower.

[ . . . ]

. . . Add to this the US support for Turkey against the Kurds and you have all the ingredients of a complete nightmare and even more bloodshed. The 'Surge' will go down in history as one of the dumbest and most immoral political stunts ever devised.

It would be a mistake to think that Turkey's US-backed attacks against Kurdistan las weekend were an anomaly. Harsh reality is that the "Surge" has gone north and it's now directed against Kurdistan.

Let's see if the US "surges" the Lakota Sioux by air for their recent declaration of independence. Why do the Sioux want their independence? Because they have 33 treaties with the US, which the US has never honored.

Surprise, surprise, surprise!

Also, this:

The Lakota reservations are among the most impoverished areas in North America, a shameful legacy of broken treaties and apartheid policies. Lakota has the highest death rate in the United States and Lakota men have the lowest life expectancy of any nation on earth, excluding AIDS, at approximately 44 years. Lakota infant mortality rate is five times the United States average and teen suicide rates 150% more than national average. 97% of Lakota people live below the poverty line and unemployment hovers near 85%.

"After 150 years of colonial enforcement, when you back people into a corner there is only one alternative," emphasized Duane Martin Sr. "The only alternative is to bring freedom into its existence by taking it back to the love of freedom, to our lifeway."

What kind of mental disease makes anyone think that the Americans are worthy of trust or that they give a damn about minority ethnicities?

Wake up, Kurdistan! Don't wait for 150 years.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

"We have not approved any decision, it is not for us to approve. However, we were informed before the event."
~ US Embassy official, Ankara.

Some of you may remember Ken Silverstein at Harper's as one of the journalists who questioned the conflict of interest that Lockheed Martin's Joseph Ralston brought to his appointment as "PKK coordinator" for Turkey.

Now, Silverstein has something significant to add to this weekend's bombing of Kurdish civilians by the Ankara regime--an email from a "insightful and well-connected former US government official working in Kurdistan":

The blowback here in Kurdistan is building against the U.S. government because of its help with the Turkish air strikes. The theme is shock and betrayal. The Kurds see themselves as the only true friend of the Americans in the region, and the only part of Iraq that is working, and are especially hurt by the attack.

The Turks are of course emphasizing that the U.S. Air Force was heavily involved in the attack. They are reveling in this turn of events. They have tried since the first Gulf War to impede or rupture the U.S. relationship with the Kurds. Since March of 2003, they have redoubled their efforts. The key factor in the air strike is what they hit–it wasn’t a collection of PKK fighters, it was a series of small mountain villages, widely disbursed, some as far as 70 kilometers inside of Kurdistan. The people killed and wounded were villagers, not PKK fighters or support people.

The initial explanation from Washington that the United States did not authorize the Turkish strike is bullshit, and every Kurd here knows it. The U.S. Air Force controls and authorizes the movement of every aircraft in, through, or around here. For Washington to say they didn’t authorize the strike, or to use some other doublespeak bullshit Washington term, just makes people here more angry.

Aside from the fact that there were PKK casualties, here's the doublespeak bullshit the guy's talking about:

A U.S. embassy official said: "We have not approved any decision, it is not for us to approve. However, we were informed before the event."

More doublespeak bullshit, this time in Turkish:

"I can categorically state that not a single civilian target, not a single village was hit. Previously identified PKK camps were hit. There is no question of any accident," Anatolian news agency quoted Buyukanit as saying.

From the IHT, more doublespeak bullshit:

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Monday that the Iraqi government had expected Turkey to coordinate with it before striking the rebels inside Iraq. He also indicated that the fact Iraqi civilians were killed showed Turkey had not hit the right target.

"What happened yesterday was based maybe on misinformation," he said.

Jamal Abdullah, a spokesman for the regional government of Iraqi Kurdistan, told AP Television News: "We call on the Turkish army to differentiate between the PKK and the ordinary people. We don't want the conflict between the Turkish troops and the PKK to turn into a conflict between the Turkish forces and the people of Kurdistan."

[ . . . ]

"This operation, which was carried out under night conditions, was a success," Erdogan said Sunday. "Our struggle (against the PKK) will continue inside and outside Turkey with the same determination."

And more on the doublespeak bullshit of the fascists from the BBC.

So Erdoğan contradicts Jamal Abdullah, and confirms that this is, in fact, "a conflict between the Turkish forces and the people of Kurdistan."

Check out more doublespeak bullshit and denial, from Al-Jazeera:

Ankara denied that civilian areas had been hit in the attacks.

"Warplanes of the Turkish air force conducted a comprehensive air campaign against targets belonging to the terrorist PKK-Kongra Gel organisation in the Qandil mountains from 0100 this morning," a Turkish military statement said.

"The operations solely target the ... terrorist movement. They are not conducted against people living in northern Iraq or local groups not engaged in enemy activity."

[ . . . ]

Buyukanit said that Sunday's attacks had been successful and all targets destroyed.

"No civilian targets or villages were hit even accidentally," he said.

Let's hear that doublespeak bullshit again:

Dismissing reports the raids hit villages, Turkey's General Staff said its targets were fixed "after it was established that they were definitely not civilian residential areas."

[ . . ]

"According to initial valuations, all the planned targets were hit accurately," the General Staff said on its Web site.

There you have it. The Paşas admit that their attack was planned to target the Kurdish people--civilians. Therefore, no matter the doublespeak bullshit of KRG spokesman, there is a war between the Turkish military and the Kurdish people. And the Pentagon wants a piece of this war, too:

A Pentagon spokesman also said Washington had given Turkey intelligence to track Kurdish fighters hiding in Iraq, but would not say whether it gave precise targets used in the raids.

Really? But the Americans have lied about the fact that they opened Iraqi airspace to the Turks, so they must be lying about providing specific targets, too. Maybe now is the right time to give them a piece of what they long for, and that was one of the topics mentioned on NPR's report on the bombing this morning. Bearing in mind, of course, that not even the southern peşmêrge want to fight PKK gerîlas. Listen to it here.

The same conclusion is starting to be drawn in the blogosphere:

The risk, of course, is that the PKK has a wide base of support among the Kurds. If the Kurds conclude that the TAF wouldn't have bombed without the permission, whether overt or tacit, of the Americans, then you have to wonder if the PKK will decide that Americans are now legitimate targets.

Even Mesûd Barzanî recognizes doublespeak bullshit when he hears it:

Massoud Barzani, leader of the autonomous Kurdish region in the north, condemned the assaults as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty that had undermined months of diplomacy. “These attacks hinder the political efforts exerted to find a peaceful solution based on mutual respect,” he said in a statement.

At a news conference in Najaf, he went further, declaring that “the Americans are responsible because the Iraqi sky is under their full control.”

In contrast to the all the doublespeak bullshit of the fascists, here are some of the words from the ground:

Mukhlis Khadar, 44, said he and his family were woken by the raids and fled their home as soon as the school was hit.

"We left an unbelievable scene behind us," Khadar said. "When we climbed the rocks of the nearby mountain ... we saw flames of fire burning our village. ... Our house disappeared."

Saoqo Mohammad, a 30-year-old woman said: "We are civilians, with no arms or any relation to the PKK, why do they allow such horrible acts against civilians?"

More words from the ground, from The Boston Globe:

The targeted towns included Suradeh, a hamlet of about 30 homes nestled in the Qandil Mountains more than 50 miles from the Turkish border. Yesterday afternoon, residents who had sought shelter in frigid mountain caves during the overnight bombardment returned to a scene of damaged homes and dead livestock. Many were packing up and leaving in fear of additional attacks. As they bundled blankets, dishes, food, and clothes in vehicles or on the backs of mules, they spoke of the overnight terror.

"My youngest daughter is still crying and saying, 'Mama, I'm scared,' " said Muneera Khalid, who sought shelter in a cave with her husband and three children, ages 7, 10, and 14. It took them a half-hour to reach the cave, going by foot in the dark after the first air strikes began at about 2 a.m.

"Why is the Turkish Army bombing our village?" she said, breaking down in tears.

[ . . . ]

. . . [L]ocal residents insisted that civilians bore the brunt of the attacks. Musheer Ahmed said his daughter lost a leg in the bombing and his home was destroyed. Nashneel Bayz, a schoolteacher, said she was sleeping in her bedroom when the windows were shattered by bombs.

"I ran like a crazy person. I saw the others running in panic and terror. It was chaos," said Bayz. "We are non-armed people, we have nothing, and they send modern airplanes to bomb us."

She said those who suffered were civilians, not PKK fighters.

"The PKK positions are still intact," she said. "We even had some PKK fighters with us in the cave, in addition to women, children."

This is the operation that Erdoğan is celebrating as a success.

Meanwhile, Aleksu at Eusko Blog opines on the situation of all oppressed peoples:

When will the nations without statehood get some respect?

When will the colonialist powers evolve and leave behind their blood lust and greed?

When will the mega-nations understand that they need a more organic approach towards their view of the world?

When will the occupying armies stop labeling resistance fighters as "terrorists"?

When will humankind put the crimes committed by the colonialist powers into the correct perspective?

Well said, heval. Read the rest.

By the way, another, similar email--perhaps from the same "former US official"--made it's way to David Corn at the MoJo Blog. Go on over and have a read, bearing in mind that the first news from HPG-BIM clearly stated there were seven şehîds as a result of the attacks, five of whom were gerîlas. The contradiction on this point in the email may mean that the censored South Kurdistani media is not mentioning HPG casualties. There is also the detail of initial aerial attacks, a deliberate break in the attacks, and then, when the villagers returned to their villages, the Turks attacked again. This is clearly an attempt by the Turks to kill as many civilians as possible.

Yessiree, Yaşar! Mission accomplished!

Note also that the email claims the US supported Turkish F-16 with AWACS, which means that there was a lot more American military assistance in targeting Kurdish civilians than merely "opening Iraqi air space." American troops should start watching their backs as they walk around in Hewlêr.

TURKEY AND US BOMB KURDISH CIVILIANS

"America gave intelligence. But more importantly, America last night opened [the Iraqi] airspace to us. By opening the airspace, America gave its approval to this operation."
~ Yaşar Büyükanıt.

Two villagers walk through a rubble at the Qlatooka village near Iraq's border with Turkey on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2007. Turkish war planes bombed Kurdish rebel targets as far as 100 kilometers (60 miles) inside northern Iraq for three hours early Sunday, in the largest aerial attack against the outlawed separatist group in recent years. An Iraqi official said the planes attacked several villages, killing one woman. (AP Photo/Yahya Ahmed)

A villager looks through a rubble at the Qlatooka village near Iraq's border with Turkey on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2007. (AP Photo/Yahya Ahmed)

Villager walks through a rubble at the Qlatooka village near Iraq's border with Turkey on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2007. (AP Photo/Yahya Ahmed)

A villager carries a desk through a rubble at the Qlatooka village near Iraq's border with Turkey on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2007. (AP Photo/Yahya Ahmed)

Two villagers clean their house at the Qlatooka village near Iraq's border with Turkey on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2007. (AP Photo/Yahya Ahmed)


Iraqis inspect the damage following air strikes by Turkish warplanes in Qandil, northern Iraq, December 16. Turkey's bombardment of suspected PKK rebel rear-bases inside northern Iraq has drawn a furious response from the Iraqi government and villagers hit by the air strikes. (AFP/Shwan Mohamed)


Iraqis inspect the damage following air strikes by Turkish warplanes in Qandil, December 16. (AFP/Shwan Mohammed)

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan denied that civilian areas had been hit.