Predators and the PKK
Published in Sabah Gazetesi
(Turkey) on 1 April 2010
by Erdal Safak (link to original)
The U.S. and its allies regained their dominance in Afghanistan and survived being bogged down by President Barack Obama’s change of strategy.
Obama’s new strategy for Afghanistan is threefold.
1. To determine a solid framework of the problem. A decision to limit the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaida strictly to Afghanistan cannot be a correct, realistic or effective one. The reason for this lies in the fact that, following their hit and runs, both al-Qaida and the Taliban pull back toward their main bases across the border in Pakistan. That is why Pakistan needs to be seen as part of the problem as well as its solution. Thus, the issue has been renamed “Af-Pak” (Afghanistan-Pakistan). Pakistan has been administered to actively take place in this conflict.
2. To deploy a sufficient amount of forces in order to find a resolution. This means that the armed forces in Afghanistan will need to be consolidated. It has been approved and Obama deployed an additional 30,000 troops to the battleground.
3. To use similar response methods, since the enemy follows the tactical concepts of “asymmetrical battle” and “anomalous warfare.” The result: Whether with unmanned aircraft (Predator drones) or with the special forces under the command of General Stanley McChrystal and CIA agent teams, the “chosen targets” or, in other words the Taliban leadership, are being overpowered. Frankly, they are being eliminated. This strategy has been acquitted by both the Congress and the U.S. judicial system: It has been officially approved that the termination of the Taliban leaders as “chosen targets” is a component of the battle and does not violate President Gerald Ford’s ruling regarding the “ban on assassination of foreign leadership.”
In our opinion, President Obama’s new strategy in Afghanistan can also be enacted in Turkey’s battle against the separatist terrorist organization.
Since the majority of the PKK (Kurdistan Worker’s Party) forces and leadership are based across the [Turkish-Iraqi] border, those that monitor the region will have to act as a part of the resolution. How? Nechirvan Barzani, the former prime minister of the Northern Iraqi regime who met with Prime Minister Erdogan in Ankara yesterday, mentioned that, “We value Turkey’s security as if it is our own. We will not allow our lands to be used against anyone else.” The fulfillment of his nephew’s undertaking needs to be demanded from President Mesud Barzani. It absolutely needs to be asked for.
Two months ago, an agreement had been reached during U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’s visit to Ankara to immediately deliver three Predators to Turkey. Nothing has happened ever since. We need to be more assertive. If we can add the U.S. Predators next to the Israeli Herons, we can respond faster and more vigorously to the separatist terror organization that follows the strategies of “asymmetrical battle” and “anomalous warfare;” evidence of which could be seen in the most recent mine explosion that martyred three of our soldiers. We received the ramifications of this analysis from Quandil (the mountainous region of northern Iraq where the PKK is based). Murat Karayilan, a member of the PKK leadership, announced, “They are targeting assassination plots against us. They say, ‘We will end the conflict if we can eliminate the administration members.’ Of course, one of the things they are trying to achieve is a terrorist act. To assassinate.”
Apparently Karayilan fears for his life, whereas there is nothing happening in reality. What if those Predators arrive and they fly over Quandil…
Obama’s new strategy for Afghanistan is threefold.
1. To determine a solid framework of the problem. A decision to limit the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaida strictly to Afghanistan cannot be a correct, realistic or effective one. The reason for this lies in the fact that, following their hit and runs, both al-Qaida and the Taliban pull back toward their main bases across the border in Pakistan. That is why Pakistan needs to be seen as part of the problem as well as its solution. Thus, the issue has been renamed “Af-Pak” (Afghanistan-Pakistan). Pakistan has been administered to actively take place in this conflict.
2. To deploy a sufficient amount of forces in order to find a resolution. This means that the armed forces in Afghanistan will need to be consolidated. It has been approved and Obama deployed an additional 30,000 troops to the battleground.
3. To use similar response methods, since the enemy follows the tactical concepts of “asymmetrical battle” and “anomalous warfare.” The result: Whether with unmanned aircraft (Predator drones) or with the special forces under the command of General Stanley McChrystal and CIA agent teams, the “chosen targets” or, in other words the Taliban leadership, are being overpowered. Frankly, they are being eliminated. This strategy has been acquitted by both the Congress and the U.S. judicial system: It has been officially approved that the termination of the Taliban leaders as “chosen targets” is a component of the battle and does not violate President Gerald Ford’s ruling regarding the “ban on assassination of foreign leadership.”
In our opinion, President Obama’s new strategy in Afghanistan can also be enacted in Turkey’s battle against the separatist terrorist organization.
Since the majority of the PKK (Kurdistan Worker’s Party) forces and leadership are based across the [Turkish-Iraqi] border, those that monitor the region will have to act as a part of the resolution. How? Nechirvan Barzani, the former prime minister of the Northern Iraqi regime who met with Prime Minister Erdogan in Ankara yesterday, mentioned that, “We value Turkey’s security as if it is our own. We will not allow our lands to be used against anyone else.” The fulfillment of his nephew’s undertaking needs to be demanded from President Mesud Barzani. It absolutely needs to be asked for.
Two months ago, an agreement had been reached during U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’s visit to Ankara to immediately deliver three Predators to Turkey. Nothing has happened ever since. We need to be more assertive. If we can add the U.S. Predators next to the Israeli Herons, we can respond faster and more vigorously to the separatist terror organization that follows the strategies of “asymmetrical battle” and “anomalous warfare;” evidence of which could be seen in the most recent mine explosion that martyred three of our soldiers. We received the ramifications of this analysis from Quandil (the mountainous region of northern Iraq where the PKK is based). Murat Karayilan, a member of the PKK leadership, announced, “They are targeting assassination plots against us. They say, ‘We will end the conflict if we can eliminate the administration members.’ Of course, one of the things they are trying to achieve is a terrorist act. To assassinate.”
Apparently Karayilan fears for his life, whereas there is nothing happening in reality. What if those Predators arrive and they fly over Quandil…