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WASHINGTON, March
24, 2006 – Turkish-American relations are critical
to the health of the United States, the top U.S.
military officer said here today.
In a wide-ranging interview, Marine Gen. Peter Pace,
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke to
Murat Akgun of Turkey's NTV network about a number
of aspects of life in Turkey's geopolitical
neighborhood.
Iraq dominated the discussion, with Pace talking
about what's right and wrong in the country. He said
the training of Iraqi security forces is moving
ahead well. Iraqi troops, he said, control more than
half of Baghdad and about a third of the rest of the
country. About 75 percent of counterinsurgency
operations have Iraqi units in the lead with only a
quarter solely done by coalition forces, Pace said.
On the debit side, he said, are continuing suicide
attacks and bombings. "These terrorists are trying
to steal Iraq by fear," he said. "They know they
have lost their opportunity to stop the elections
and the writing of a constitution. They fear the
stand-up of a representative government, and they
are doing all they can right now to try to turn the
tide. But they will fail again."
As the Iraqi military and police become more
proficient, coalition forces will turn over more and
more battle space to them, Pace said. There is no
set timetable for coalition withdrawal from the
country, and the coalition remains flexible with
conditions on the ground dictating the size of the
force. The United States raises and lowers level of
forces in the country as needed, Pace explained. In
December, about 168,000 American servicemembers were
in Iraq. Today, there are about 133,000, he said.
"We will continue to monitor the situation, and as
Iraqi troops take over more of the territory we will
be able to back away and reduce our troop levels,"
he said.
Turkey is concerned about the possibility of a civil
war in Iraq. Pace said he does not think there will
be one, but that the opportunity for a civil war is
present if the Iraqis decide to go down that path.
Since the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra on
Feb. 22, the Iraqi people have glimpsed the path to
civil war, but have chosen another route, he said.
He credited religious and political leaders with
urging calm and army and police with enforcing
security.
Iraq must more forward politically for any true
progress in the country. "If (the political leaders)
come forward with a unified government -- Shiia,
Sunni, Kurd and ... Iraqi in flavor through and
through -- I think we will see a healthy and
prosperous 2006," Pace said.
Turkey, with a large Kurdish population in the east,
is worried about the effect a free Kurdistan in Iraq
would have inside Turkey. Pace said it would not be
good for Iraq to allow Kurdistan to become
independent. "Iraq is a solid, prosperous, healthy
country with well-educated individuals that has the
opportunity now to build a very solid future," he
said. "For them to splinter would certainly be bad
for that country and bad for the region."
Underlying the concern about an independent
Kurdistan is the presence of the PKK, a Kurdish
separatist group that the U.S. State Department has
listed as a terrorist organization. "Their existence
is unacceptable to us and unacceptable to Turkey,"
Pace said. The PKK is operating in northern Iraq,
and the United States and Iraq are committed to
eliminating the group. But progress must wait until
the Iraqi security forces are sufficiently strong to
take on the organization, Pace said.
The chairman also discussed Iran and squashed rumors
that the United States is contemplating a military
solution to the standoff over Iran's use of nuclear
material that could be used for making atomic bombs.
"Iran is a long way from needing any military
solution," Pace said. "There are many things that
can be done diplomatically and many countries
working together to persuade Iran to work in such a
way that is not dangerous to its neighbors. There
are many things that can be done before any country
contemplates a military option."
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