"Part of Iran's goal is to get Turkey to carry its political water in Washington. Iran's leaders hope Mr. Erdogan will convince the State Department and the White House to accept the Iranian fable that PJAK is merely the "Iranian branch" of the PKK."
<http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071105/COMMENTARY/1 11050009> http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071105/COMMENTARY/11 1050009 Commentary Border turmoil tripwires Kenneth R. Timmerman, Washington Times, 5 November, 2007 As Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visits Washington today, he will ask President Bush for approval to launch military action against Kurdish rebels based in Northern Iraq. He will use all the arguments that Washington likes to hear. Turkey is an ally in the war on terror, the PKK is a terrorist group, therefore Washington should agree to Ankara's request to smash them. Simple, no? In fact, the situation in northern Iraq is far from simple. For starters, a Turkish invasion of northern Iraq will destabilize a peaceful, prosperous, and pro-American region of Iraq. Already Iraqi Kurds are fleeing the border zones. If the 60,000 Turkish troops now amassed at the border cross into Iraq, they will provoke a massive new refugee crisis and destroy the boom economy that has made the Kurdish region "the other Iraq," an Iraq of entrepreneurs, safety and civility. Even worse: A Turkish invasion of northern Iraq will directly benefit another key regional player, the Islamic Republic of Iran. Little known in Washington is the strategic and military alliance forged recently between U.S. NATO ally Turkey and U.S. arch-enemy Iran. Since August, Iran and Turkey have jointly battled Kurdish rebel groups based in Northern Iraq. When the cross-border shelling of Iraqi villages began Aug. 16, Turkish gunners opened fire against PKK bases along Iraq's border with Turkey, while Iranian gunners simultaneously took aim at guerrillas of the Party of Free Life of Iranian Kurdistan, commonly known as PJAK. I recently returned from a reporting trip to Northern Iraq, where I spent several days at PJAK rebel bases deep in the Qandil Mountains along the Iraqi border with Iran. The first thing that became immediately clear was the geography. The PKK and PJAK occupy completely different areas of northern Iraq, separated from each other by 11,000-foot mountain peaks and breathtaking canyons. The PKK faces north, toward Turkey, and directs its activities against Turkey. PJAK faces east, toward Iran, and since 2004 has been conducting political and guerrilla operations inside Iranian Kurdish areas. In the two months since the recent fighting began, PJAK guerrillas told me they have killed 200 Iranian Revolutionary Guards troops in 21 separate clashes, most of them provoked by the Iranian side. In the PJAK bases I visited, there was not only no PKK presence: There was no hint of political, military or strategic cooperation between the two groups. PJAK seeks to democratize Iran through a broad-based political struggle, backed by "self-defense forces" whose purpose is to deter repressive actions by the Revolutionary Guards and other security forces. They do not seek a military confrontation with the regime, nor are they asking for U.S. military assistance. PJAK has no involvement and, indeed, does not endorse the actions against Turkey by the HPG self-defense forces, commonly (and erroneously) known as the PKK. Part of Iran's goal is to get Turkey to carry its political water in Washington. Iran's leaders hope Mr. Erdogan will convince the State Department and the White House to accept the Iranian fable that PJAK is merely the "Iranian branch" of the PKK. This is a convenient lie, and a deadly one. If there is any covert cooperation, it is between Iran and Turkey. Turkish military officers are today stationed at Revolutionary Guards headquarters in Urmieh and in other Iranian cities close to northern Iraq, where they advise Iranian troops in counterinsurgency methods. Were PJAK expelled from the border area, Iran would open a new infiltration route to supply insurgents with arms, money and Explosively-Formed-Penetrators (EFPs) for use against coalition forces and our Iraqi allies. Without PJAK control of that border, Erbil and Suleymaniyah would resemble the Fallujah and Ramadi of early 2006. This is indeed Iran's goal. In our eagerness to help nations battling terrorist groups, we should not fall into this deadly Iranian government trap. And yet, the CIA and the State Department appear more eager to talk to the Iranian regime than they are to talk with PJAK, whose president, Rahman Haj Ahmadi, they refused to meet during a recent trip to Washington this summer. The United States should be helping PJAK, which has made clear its willingness to work with other pro-democracy groups in Iran to forge a broad alliance to oppose the ruling clerics in Iran. Supporting such an alliance is our best hope - and probably our only hope - for avoiding war. Kenneth R. Timmerman is a contributing editor to Newsmax.com. His latest book, "Shadow Warriors," will be released by Crown Forum tomorrow. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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