permanent war gets a new front

And so it begins:

Turkish warplanes bombed positions of suspected Kurdish rebels Wednesday, and the prime minister said preparations for parliamentary approval of a military mission against separatist fighters in Iraq were under way.

. . . .

Turkish troops blocked rebel escape routes into Iraq while F-16 and F-14 warplanes and Cobra helicopters dropped bombs on possible hideouts, Dogan news agency reported. The military had dispatched tanks to the region to support the operation against the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in response to more than a week of deadly attacks in southeastern Turkey.

No doubt there is some poor schmo at State frantically trying to keep Ankara from starting an all out war with the semi-autonomous Iraqi-Kurdish state—though I have no idea what he or she has to offer. . . besides Bush flip-flopping on genocide.

Does Turkey need anymore product from our military-industrial complex?

Whether anyone is leaning on Kurdish officials anywhere near as hard, asking them to reign in the PKK, is anybody’s guess, but I doubt that the Bush Administration is eager to pressure the one vaguely stable civil government in Iraq.

It is hard to fathom just how many ways this can get worse, but rather easy to predict that it will.

Like, c’mon, who didn’t see this coming?

Oh, yeah, Donald Rumsfeld.