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Kurd Sellout Watch: Day 251Crisis over.

By Timothy Noah
Posted Saturday, Nov. 8, 2003, at 1:59 PM ET

The United States and Turkey have agreed not to send Turkish troops into Iraq after all. On Nov. 5, the Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani, who currently holds the Iraqi Governing Council's rotating chairmanship, told reporters, "The question of sending Turkish troops is closed." Two days later, it was clear that the United States had wisely decided not to overrule its hand-picked Iraqi government. At a press briefing, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher tried halfheartedly to portray this as Turkey's decision, which is how it was played in the Turkish daily Zaman. Here's Boucher:

The Secretary spoke with [Turkish] Foreign Minister [Abdullah] Gul last night. They discussed the situation with regard to the deployment of Turkish troops to Iraq. As you know, this is something we've been working with both the Turkish Government as well as the Iraqi authorities; and particularly, the members of the Governing Council.

After they reviewed the situation, Foreign Minister Gul told the Secretary that the Turkish Government was going to reconsider its offer to send troops to Iraq. I have to say the Secretary thanked Foreign Minister Gul for the positive response that they'd given to the U.S. request for such a contribution.

But Boucher did acknowledge, "[T] this is probably the best outcome for the moment." That's an understatement. The Kurds have dodged the bullet once again.

Kurd Sellout Watch Archive:
Oct. 24, 2003: Day 236
Oct. 20, 2003: Day 232
Oct. 7, 2003: Day 219
July 27, 2003: Day 147
July 23, 2003: Day 143
May 16, 2003: Day 75
May 1, 2003: Day 60
April 25, 2003: Day 54
April 23, 2003: Day 52
April 18, 2003: Day 47
April 10, 2003: Day 39
April 3, 2003: Day 32
March 26, 2003: Day 24
March 25, 2003: Day 23
March 23, 2003: Day 21
March 21, 2003: Day 19
March 20, 2003: Day 18
March 17, 2003: Day 15
March 14, 2003: Day 12
March 11, 2003: Day 9
March 6, 2003: Day 4
March 4, 2003: Day 2
March 3, 2003: "How Screwed Are the Kurds?"

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Timothy Noah is a senior writer at Slate.
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