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March 21, 2005
Talking Turkey
On the topic of ticking off U.S. allies, Don Rumsfeld lamented Turkish democracy over the weekend. In response to a question about whether he had any regrets about his execution of the Iraq war, Rumsfeld notes:
Well, given the level of the insurgency today, two years later, clearly if we had been able to get the 4th Infantry Division in from the north through Turkey, more of the Iraqi Saddam Hussein Baathist regime would have been captured or killed. The insurgency today would be less.
What happened was we had to come in from the south, our 4th Infantry Division was blocked in the north.
As a result, by the time Baghdad was taken, the large fraction of the Iraqi military and intelligence services just dissipated into the communities. And they're still, in a number of instances, still active. [emphasis mine]
In fairness to Rumsfeld, he didn't outright condemn Turkey's decision to refuse access to the 4th ID -- he very clearly was speaking in hypotheticals. But of all the things that Rumsfeld could regret about his execution of the Iraq war, he chooses Turkey's refusal of a northern front. Not only is such a selection breathtaking in its boneheadedness, but it is also the one for which Rumsfeld himself is least responsible. Turkish PM Erdogan supported the idea hosting U.S. troops -- but he couldn't get his parliament in line. The State Department could have exercised greater diplomatic suasion -- but it didn't. Is Rumsfeld intellectually aware of this? If he is, then his comments might be intended as more than just a simple statement of remorse. They might have contemporary policy implications.
The Turks, for their part, are definitely feeling some cold winds blowing from Washington. Indeed, as Rumsfeld's comments demonstrate, folks in the Bush administration aren't very willing to forgive and forget Turkey's disloyalty in early 2003. As Turkey remains the indispensible nation in so many contexts, this probably isn't a wise trend.
Posted by Daniel Widome at 10:41 AM to Europe, Middle East, U. S. Politics
