As Baghdad Falls To American Forces

MILLIYET- Columnist Derya Sazak writes on the apparent end of the Iraq war. A summary of his column is as follows:
US tanks yesterday moved into Firdos Square in central Baghdad, and military leaders declared the Iraqi capital’s fall. US soldiers helped a group of Iraqis topple a 40-foot statue of Saddam, a historic incident symbolizing the end of Saddam’s 35-year reign.
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has vanished. Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf abruptly ended his regular press briefing. Without any significant resistance, Baghdad fell to American forces.
If American soldiers had been patient enough to wait for 24 hours, the journalists at Baghdad’s Palestine Hotel would have not been the victims of aggressive US bombing. Reuters reporters were killed by their allies! The US Army murdered these reporters, violating international principles of journalism, which grant all reporters the right to access information. The US press, meanwhile, recently evaluated the Turkish military’s stance on the Iraq war. In a news analysis by Washington Post foreign service correspondent Philip Pan, it was stated that the Turkish Army faced a tough choice in northern Iraq. ‘Turkey considers Kurdish control of the Iraqi oil fields a security threat, and if the Kurds enter either city, Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok will face the most important decision of his 44-year military career: whether to order an invasion of northern Iraq that could lead to clashes between his troops and those of the United States and its Kurdish allies,’ said the US daily. Reviewing Ozkok’s military career, Pan wrote that the Turkish general had spent several years in Brussels as Ankara’s NATO representative, and that diplomats and officers who worked alongside him said he was more supportive of democratic reform and strong ties with the United States and Europe than many of his colleagues. ‘The US position has put Ozkok in a difficult spot,’ said Pan. ‘So far, he has played a moderating role within the military, but retired generals who have worked closely with him said he is under pressure from senior commanders who want him to be more forceful with the United States. “There are many people who think he should be more aggressive,” one general said.’ Washington and Ankara are currently asking themselves similar questions: If the National Security Council (NSC) had adopted a more persuasive or even forceful position, could it have convinced the Turkish Parliament to approve the proposal allowing deployment of US troops at Turkey’s military facilities? Could Turkey have persuaded the US that it should enter northern Iraq alone? Will newly emerging Kurdish formations in northern Iraq trigger separatist movements in bordering Turkey? Will Turkey alter its policy that the establishment of an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq would constitute a ‘casus belli’? Pan’s analysis shows that it is high time for Ankara to determine clearly its postwar Iraq policy. Turkey should seek solutions to these problems, regardless of possible future provocations. Since we’ve already said publicly that this is not our war, we should contribute to efforts to establish peace in the postwar period. As a matter of fact, peacekeeping will be the more difficult war for the US to win!

SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION