Kurds in Northern Iraq vow to “defend” against Turkey

For the longest time the writers over on AmericaBlog have pointed to the Kurdish area of Iraq as a potential flash point. That appears to be coming to pass, as Turkey and Kurds are now posed to battle over “guerillas” finding harbor in Northern Iraq.

As both Baghdad and Washington struggled to avert conflict between two of its key allies in the region, Turkey’s prime minister insisted that the camps of Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq must be destroyed and rebel leaders extradited to Turkey for trial.

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, has battled for more than two decades for autonomy in Turkey’s mostly Kurdish southeast. The conflict has claimed more than 30,000 lives.

Now I don’t know a whole lot about this little facet of Middle Eastern politics. However, what I can see is that there is an inherent contradiction in any efforts led by the United States to stop Turkey from doing pretty much exactly what the US did when it invaded Afghanistan (let alone the logic that brought us into Iraq itself).

Anyone who knows a little more about the region, please let me know what’s up.

Dodd vs Reid on warrantless wiretapping

Sometimes I really don’t understand my party. I get all excited about 2006 because it’s time for a change, and nothing happens. Then I’m scoping to see what news I’ve missed and I find something fantastic. Chris Dodd is going to block the new FISA bill and halt this absurd expansion of presidential powers.

The Military Commissions Act. Warrantless wiretapping. Shredding of Habeas Corpus. Torture. Extraordinary Rendition. Secret Prisons.

No more.

I have decided to place a “hold” on the latest FISA bill that would have included amnesty for telecommunications companies that enabled the President’s assault on the Constitution by illegally providing personal information on their customers without judicial authorization.

Excellent. That’s exactly face of the Democratic party that we need. Someone to take a principled stand instead of just jawing on and on about how awful the mean GOP Congress and the White House are. Enough of Hillary and Obama talking about bringing our boys home and how we need to fix America but doing jack shit about it. So what’s the response? Harry Reid’s going to force a vote on it anyway.

Great work, Harry. Can anyone explain why he’d decide to override Dodd’s hold? I can’t think of a motivation for the life of me.