Posted 4:22 PM by Robert

About Turkey

We know that Turkey's top political and military leaders called on the Turkish parliament to let in American troops to invade Iraq.

And while it was not as widely reported in the West, the Turkish Parliament held a closed evening session after the government's decision - and for a while the Turkish press was reporting that the government might bring the motion to Parliament during that session. But, reportedly, no vote was taken at that time or since. A new vote is supposed to be taken "as early as Wednesday" (tomorrow).

Now, I suppose that it would probably be hard to keep a Turkish parliament vote on a matter such as this secret. After all, there are many members of parliament very much opposed. But then, I don't know much about Turkish Parliament confidentiality procedures.

But if a majority could be found and secrecy maintained - at least for a few days - wouldn't it make sense to do that? Wouldn't it make sense to mass invasion forces in the north of Iraq (Turkey) and launch the first wave of the invasion from that point, while the Iraqis are expecting action from the south (Kuwait)?

But, again, it would be very hard to keep the secret - and also contrary to public news releases.

UPDATE:

The Associated Press reports: Turkey's government said Wednesday it would ask parliament to grant the U.S. Air Force the right to use Turkish airspace in an Iraq war but would not immediately ask the legislature to vote to allow in U.S. troops.