STAR- Columnist Zeynep Gurcanli comments on what US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz’s recent visit to Turkey actually means in terms of US plans to launch a military operation against Saddam Hussein. A summary of her column is as follows:
The United States has a two-pronged strategy concerning the operation it is planning to launch against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein: US Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz’s recent visit to Turkey on the one hand, and the recent meeting of Iraqi opposition leaders in London on the other. Wolfowitz’s visit has demonstrated that the US is trying to persuade Turkey, a neighbor of Iraq, to support the operation. In addition, a number of Iraqi opposition leaders met in London to discuss ways of toppling Saddam and how to run the country after he is out of the picture. The opposition leaders agreed upon establishing a council which will work as an extension of the US forces. The council is also expected to try to stir into action other opposition groups in order to deal a domestic blow to Saddam’s administration. According to the information recently leaked, the operation is expected to begin in November, which is also the month for congressional elections in the US. What is on Bush’s mind is neither his ‘sacred war against terrorism’ nor ‘the welfare of the Iraqi people.’ Instead, he seems to be focused on the polls to be held this fall. The polls might provide the Bush administration with a tremendous opportunity to change the disaster of Sept. 11 into a victory for his Republican Party. Bush’s tool to use the campaign season to boost his votes has already been selected: the issue of Iraq. The US president has failed so far to capture Osama bin Laden, but he’s planning to serve Saddam’s head on a platter to the American people as compensation. Meanwhile, Turkey has already been working for a long time on various scenarios concerning the operation and the post-Saddam period. One of the expected scenarios is as follows: Saddam will be overthrown by his closest compatriots, which means a coup d’état by his domestic allies. The other scenario is based on stories of espionage. The CIA might launch a covert operation in Iraq. Despite these alternative theories, the story which Turkey is mostly focused on goes as follows: Public riots break out in the country and the Iraqi people themselves topple Saddam. However, both Ankara and Washington are aware that an Iraqi opposition needs to be supported by foreign powers in order to be successful in organizing such riots. That’s why Wolfowitz is not traveling alone but has been accompanied by US Assistant Secretary of State Marc Grossman -- a former ambassador to Ankara -- and Commander in Chief of the US European Command Joseph Ralston on his visit to Turkey. The US is determined to persuade the Turkish government. Wolfowitz, Grossman and Ralston are something like an ‘advance guard’ in Turkey, but soon they may be joined by thousands of American soldiers in their wake.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION