BY TUFAN TURENC
HURRIYET- The US is paying the price for the violent policies of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his underlings. It won’t be able to escape from the quagmire it’s gotten stuck in. That swamp will ultimately be the downfall of US President George W. Bush and Rumsfeld. In an ironic twist, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi this week requested help from visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the release of Japanese hostages in Iraq. If the Republican People’s Party (CHP) had voted for the proposal to deploy Turkish soldiers in Iraq back in March, most probably now Erdogan himself would be seeking foreign help for the release of Mehmetciks. I wonder if Erdogan thought of this. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is very lucky. It escaped from the swamp just before stepping in. Actually the entire nation is lucky because of this.
Recently retired Gen. Ilhan Kilic told me this about the Iraq issue: ‘If foreign forces occupying a country don’t get the support of 80% of the locals, they won’t be able to establish control of the country. This is the primary rule of the issue. What’s more, it’s the US which laid down this rule.’ However, the US did just the opposite in Iraq, flouting the strategy they taught the world. Kilic added, ‘The US can’t possibly ensure control in Iraq in this situation. The violence will gradually escalate.’ Figures show the seriousness of the situation: More than 800 Iraqi civilians have died in conflicts since the beginning of this month. Bush confessed the difficulty of the situation by saying, ‘I pray we’ll have fewer losses.’ This is the price of following the policies of violence-soaked Rumsfeld.