And Americans wonder why quite some Turks believe America is extremely hypocritical when it talks about a global war on terrorism:
As U.S. officials confirmed that some weapons, originally given to Iraqi security forces by the American military, had been seized by Turkish authorities, the Pentagon said it had not armed and does not arm the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Washington emphasizes is a terrorist group.
Serial numbers on pistols and other weapons recovered in Turkey over the past year matched those distributed to Iraqi police units, The New York Times reported yesterday, quoting Pentagon officials.
Turkey has long been complaining that the PKK is using some U.S.-issued weapons, urging Washington to resolve the problem and to illuminate past cases.
This is a major problem. The US should make sure – as sure as it can possibly be – that weapons do not fall into the hands of Kurdish terrorists. Not only because the PKK is a terrorist organization (considered as such by the US as well), but also because news like this does great damage to the Turkey-American relationship. Not only does the PKK use American weapons, the US also seems to be hesitant to do something about the PKK camps in Northern Iraq. Since 1+1=2, many people believe that America is not as opposed to the PKK as it says it is.
If you declare war on all terrorist organizations, you should fight all terrorist organizations. The US is afraid to piss off the Kurds living in Northern Iraq, which is understandable, but just ignoring the problem and hoping it will go away is seldom the best path to follow. America’d better act against the PKK ASAP and make sure that it will be more difficult for the PKK to get its hands on American made weapons in the (near) future. America rightfully criticizes Iran when insurgents use Iranian made weapons. It is also completely logical for Turkey to criticize America when Kurds use American made weapons.
Bush et al. have made a lot of mistakes in their foreign policy, one of their major mistakes – with potentially huge problems in the future – is to ignore the PKK-problem in Northern Iraq.
