Comments on: Pentagon Giving Turkey Intelligence on PKK

By: Hal

Hal — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:04:48 +0000

Well, I don't think that Israel will be making the calls for bombing inside our country, so your last statement seems to be so general as to obscure the issue. Basically, the US is still occupying Iraq and they don't have anything approaching sovereignty as we would normally recognize it. I certainly understand the - uh - practicalities involved, but what's striking to me is that they didn't even give the illusion that this was the Iraqi's decision. Basically, it seems, this is a pretty nasty slap in the face to Iraqi sovereignty and it's just weird that they didn't even try to mitigate that.

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 19:38:57 +0000

You mean "Iraq" in the last sentence, right?

Yes - fixed!

Of course, in reality, every state's sovereignty is constrained by practicalities, certainly including ours. Some more so than others, though.

By: Hal

Hal — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 19:37:23 +0000

You mean "Iraq" in the last sentence, right?

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 19:14:27 +0000

I think the real issue is sovereignty, don't you?

It's one of many issues, yes. Turkey has the right as a sovereign state to defend itself from attacks and Iraq has a duty as an ostensibly sovereign state to prevent terrorist groups from launching attacks from its territory. Iraq's sovereignty is, of course, constrained by practical realities.

By: Hal

Hal — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 19:11:15 +0000

for us not to give them the best intel at our disposal so as to minimize collateral damage.

I think the real issue is sovereignty, don't you?