September 8, 2007: Turkey
continues to complain that U.S. weapons are showing up in the hands of PKK
rebels. Some PKK weapons captured by Turkish troops had serial numbers that
match pistols and "other weapons" given to Iraqi police forces. The U.S. is not
surprised, as it knew theft,
blackmarketing, and corruption in Iraq could lead to this. Turkey has also
captured Soviet-type weapons that once belonged to the Albanian Army. These
weapons "disappeared" when Albania's Communist government collapsed in the
early 1990s.
September 5, 2007: Iran
claimed that "bandits" in a predominantly Kurdish area in northwestern Iran
killed seven Iranian policemen. The fight occurred near the Iran-Iraq border.
This is near an area where, for several weeks, Iranian artillery and mortar
fire have emptied over twenty remote villages, and sent hundreds of villagers
fleeing for sanctuary in larger towns.
Iranian troops have crossed the border, to make sure the villages were
empty of PKK rebels, and to look for other PKK hideouts. PKK officials, and the
Iraqi government in Baghdad have protested this invasion, but Iran denies
everything up, and keeps shooting.
September 4, 2007: The
Iraqi Kurds insist that, while they want no part of the PKK rebels, the Kurds
in northern Iraq would not support Kurdish troops going after the PKK camps in
northern Iraq. This would tear apart the successful Kurdish government in
northern Iraq. What the Kurdish leadership is implying, although none will come
out and say it, is that the only alternative is for the Turks to come into
northern Iraq and go after the PKK. Of course, this would mean some of the PKK
fighters would escape to Kurdish population centers. There, it would be more
politically acceptable for Kurdish police to arrest any PKK members who do
something illegal. The Kurdish police have done this with the small number of
Kurds who joined Islamic terrorist organizations.
