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Bush offers to bomb Kurds


Bob26003

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http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,2...940-663,00.html

Bush offers to bomb Kurds

Article from: Herald Sun

October 24, 2007 12:51pm

THE Bush Administration is considering air strikes, including cruise missiles, against the Kurdish rebel group PKK in northern Iraq.

The move would be an attempt to stave off a Turkish invasion of that country to fight the rebels.

President George Bush spoke with Turkish President Abdullah Gul by phone yesterday in an effort to ease the crisis.

And Prime Minister John Howard says the tensions on the Turkey-Iraq border will not help the west's battle for democracy in Iraq.

Mr Howard said there was some recent evidence that US forces were making headway in their battle against al-Qaeda in Iraq following the US troop surge.

"There is some evidence in recent weeks that the surge has been more successful than many of its critics wanted it to be or believe it would be," Mr Howard told an army land warfare conference in Adelaide today.

But he hoped the temperature between Turkey and the Kurds was kept as low as possible.

"It is in a strategic sense a complicating factor at a time when evidence is emerging of slow but nonetheless some progress being made in improving the security position in Iraq," he said.

"The message I would give to Turkey and Iraq is, like everybody else, just keep it as cool and at a lower temperature as possible," Mr Howard said.

According to an official familiar with the conversation, Mr Bush assured the Turkish President that the US was seriously looking into options beyond diplomacy to stop the attacks coming from Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq.

"It's not 'Kumbaya' time any more - just talking about trilateral talks is not going to be enough," the official said.

"Something has to be done."

While the use of US soldiers on the ground to root out the PKK would be the last resort, the US would be willing to launch air strikes on PKK targets, the official said, and has discussed the use of cruise missiles.

But air strikes using manned aircraft may be an easier option because the US controls the air space over Iraq.

Another option would be to persuade the Kurdistan Regional Government, which runs that part of Iraq, to order its Peshmerga forces to form a cordon preventing the movement of the PKK beyond its mountain camps.

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Its a little misleading "Bush offers to bomb Kurds" and when you read the article it says "the Bush Administration is considering air strikes, including cruise missiles, against the Kurdish rebel group PKK in northern Iraq" it seems like he's thinking about about his options he hasn't offered to bomb them.

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Its a little misleading "Bush offers to bomb Kurds" and when you read the article it says "the Bush Administration is considering air strikes, including cruise missiles, against the Kurdish rebel group PKK in northern Iraq" it seems like he's thinking about about his options he hasn't offered to bomb them.

I didn't make up the title ........ :unsure:

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