COULD US PASSAGE OF THE ARMENIAN BILL SPARK STIFF INCREASE IN IRAQ WAR PRICE?

Hurriyet, Turkey
Oct 15 2007

A program carried on HaberTurk yesterday featured an interview with
former Turkish Ambassador to the US, Gunduz Aktan. On it, Aktan said
some very important things, which I would like to repeat here for those
who might have missed it. Aktan, who was one of the three Turkish MPs
who visited the US recently to relay the Turkish Parliament’s views
on the Armenian bill before the US Congress, gave an interesting
response yesterday to the question of what exactly Turkey’s reaction
to this bill should be. He said:

"Turkey should give the reaction that the US is expecting, because
the Republicans want to lay the cost for this bill on the Democrats."

Isn’t the US telling Turkey not to interfere in northern Iraq? Isn’t
it telling Ankara not to do anything? Yes, it is, and it is saying
clearly what it expects. Aktan is right–I reviewed the news from
the last few days, and I realized that the US has been spelling out
clearly what it expects on this front.

* * *

According to news carried on CNN International last week, the Pentagon
believes it’s possible that Turkey will completely cut off ground and
air access to Iraq from Turkey for the US. Defense Secretary Robert
Gates has already noted "Up to 70% of the logistical carge used in
Iraq comes through Turkey."

This is in addition to the significant proportion of fuel used by US
troops which is also transported into Iraq through Turkey.

Gates also noted in his comments that "95% of the mine-resistant,
protectively shelled vehicles used by the US also come through Turkey."

But now the US authorities are looking for new routes in the face of
Ankara’s stance on the Armenian bill. Some news sources are saying
that they could use new paths through Kuwait or Jordan.

But there is one matter which is underlined through all of this:
The military costs will rise.

And the Democrats, who are pushing to have a military pull-out
from Iraq take place, and who want to have limitations set on the
military budget, need to be ready to "pay the bills" is they accept
the Armenian allegation bill despite all these warnings. You don’t
need to be a conspiracy theorist to see this; it is all so clear.