http://www.economist.com/people/displayStory.cfm?story_id=976036 --------------------------------------------------- The Weekly Standard provides an influential megaphone for Mr Wolfowitz's views. (One of the magazine's former writers, David Frum, coined the phrase “axis of evil”.) ---------------------------------------------------
The Economist also details Wolfowitz's (aka the Velociraptor) network within the admin, as well as his one enemy there: --------------------------------------------------- Mr Wolfowitz's muscular world view was forged in the groves of academia rather than the paddyfields of Vietnam, a fact that infuriates Mr Powell.(...)Mr Wolfowitz was Dick Cheney's right-hand man when the latter ran the Pentagon. He worked for Mr Rumsfeld twice before moving to his current job (...) Richard Perle, an old friend, is chairman of a Pentagon committee. John Bolton, another star warrior, sits in the heart of Powell territory, the State Department. “Scooter” Libby, Mr Cheney's chief-of-staff, is known as “Wolfowitz's Wolfowitz”. ---------------------------------------------------
The current level of US intimidation may lead one to think that Cheney & Wolfowitz are going to make Turkey & the Gulf states an offer they can't refuse. The Guardian article indicates what this will involve:
--------------------------------------------------- (...)action to be taken by neighbouring states to "tighten the political noose" [and] a military campaign relying heavily on air power and defections from within the Iraqi military. (...) "There's an evolving consensus that a sizeable US military activity will be required," a source told the LA Times. ---------------------------------------------------
This last sentence is confirmed by the Moscow Times: http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2002/02/07/009.html --------------------------------------------------- Informed sources in Washington say that the attack on Saddam will in fact be postponed until the fall. The U.S. air force may be fully ready to begin an effective air offensive in Iraq, but ground troops have not yet been gathered in sufficient numbers. It is reported that in Washington there are discussions on how many servicemen (and women) should be assembled to go into Iraq -- 50,000 to 100,000, or up to 500,000 as in 1991 for the liberation of Kuwait. ---------------------------------------------------
As I wrote earlier, Turkey paid a heavy price for the Gulf War, which was presented by the then PM Ozal as a golden business opportunity. He promised a shower of gold from the U.S. and even imagined, so it is rumored, that he could grab the Iraqi oil fields at Mosul. The army reportedly resisted this harebrained invasion scheme and was further incensed when the Iraqi Kurds were allowed to set up quasi-states, providing a new safe haven for the PKK. Meanwhile, Turkey lost tens of billions in Iraqi business. The present US attack plan - or one version of it - has sent the Turkish generals through the roof, as it involves building up the Iraqi Kurds into a real fighting force. The last thing that Turkey wants is a new Kurdish army at its doorstep and another pro-Iranian one in Southern Iraq. An increase in several orders of magnitude of Arab hatred for Turkey would come on top of that, of course. So will Turkey submit to this recipe for disaster? The Army is certain to resist it and sparks will fly at Incirlik airbase, which is under Turkish command. The Nationalist Movement Party, the ruling coalition's fascist, Kurd-hating partner, may turn out to play a positive role for a change if it blocks the US plan. Trouble is, many of the fascists are or were CIA assets. Then again, Tenet is against the whole idiotic scheme.
So what can the U.S. "wolf-pack" threaten Turkey with? The IMF has just OK'ed an unprecedented loan of $16 billion to Turkey for a grand total of $32 billion, topping Argentina's $22 billion. And Israel, which is behind the whole get-Saddam show, needs Turkey's support. This doesn't leave the Wolfowitz crowd with much room for threats, which is why they have given up on their initial plan for an Afghanistan-type war with a handful of US special forces commanding the Kurds.
Hakki