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US works on alternative to Turkey supply route to Iraq
Oct 16 02:06 PM US/Eastern
The US military is looking for a second route to supply troops in Iraq
in case Turkey shuts its borders in reprisal for possible adoption of
a resolution on genocide in Armenia, a Pentagon official said Tuesday.
"There is planning going on," a Pentagon official said privately.
"It’s just looking at what other options are available because there
are serious operational impacts" if the Turks deny passage of US
military supplies bound for Iraq.
The White House Monday urged Turkey to show "restraint" as Ankara
moved closer to a possible incursion against Kurdish rebels sheltering
in northern Iraq that could further complicate the Iraq war.
Under strong public pressure for the Iraq War, the White House is
concerned a Turkish incursion might upset one of the few areas in Iraq
enjoying relative stability and spread to nearby countries home to
ethnic Kurds.
Ankara’s saber rattling also comes at a time of tense US-Turkish
relations over a pending vote in the House of Representatives for a
resolution calling World War I mass killings of Armenians by Turkey’s
Ottoman Empire a genocide.
Flatly refusing the term and strongly opposed to the US resolution,
Turkey has threatened to withdraw its logistical support for the Iraq
War if US lawmakers approve the measure.
Fearing the loss of Turkey’s Incirclik airbase, which provides a
crucial staging ground for US supplies headed to Iraq and Afghanistan,
the White House has urged House speaker Nancy Pelosi not to bring the
resolution to a vote.
Copyright AFP 2007