by Eric Margolis
The Toronto Sun
"......In the 1990s, I wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal — before being banned from its pages for political heresy — cautioning that if Iraq one day splintered, Turkey would be tempted to seize Iraq’s major northern oil regions around Mosul and Kirkuk.
SPLIT IN THREE
That day is near. President Geoge W. Bush’s invasion devastated Iraq and split into three pieces — fulfilling Israel’s strategic plan in promoting the invasion.
Iraq’s Mosul oil fields, which formerly belonged to the Ottoman Empire, are only 119 kms from Turkey’s border.
After the First World War, the British Empire grabbed the oil-rich region, creating the unnatural state of Iraq to safeguard it.
If Iraq slides further into the abyss, Turkey and Iran may partition Iraq. Today, Turkey has no oil. Its fragile economy is hammered by having to earn U.S. dollars to buy oil. But if Turkey repossessed Iraq’s northern oil fields, this nation of 70 million with 515,000 men at arms would become an important power that would reassert traditional Turkish influence in the Mideast, Balkans, Caucasus, and Central Asia.
It’s a huge temptation Ankara cannot ignore. If the U.S. can invade Iraq for oil, why not neighbouring, ex-owner Turkey?
Meanwhile, Washington mutters about launching attacks on PKK, which it also brands “terrorists.”
But with the hypocrisy typical of U.S. Mideast policy, Washington closes its eyes and may be secretly arming Iraqi Kurds.
Turkey insists it is fighting “terrorism” and has every right to strike into Iraq to protect its national security — Bush’s justification for invading Iraq.
This Kurdish fracas comes just as Dr. Strangelove Dick Cheney and star pupil, Bush, are fanning hysteria over Iran and threatening war. Latest reason: Iran “might” have nuclear knowledge — welcome to “thoughts of mass destruction.” Throw in the growing crisis in key U.S. ally Pakistan, and we face one unholy mess."
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