Radio Utopie

Kurdistan, somewhere: Someone is, indeed, supplying the PKK militia with weapons and so-called „intelligence“. It is highly unlikely that a simple, isolated terrorist organisation could kill and abduct dozens of soldiers of a NATO country without satellite support and high level electronic warfare. But who could provide that?Well, on August 27 the „New York Times“ (1) reported that several US agencies were investigating a widening network of criminal cases involving the purchase and delivery of billions of dollars of weapons, supplies and other matériel to Iraqi and American forces, according to American officials. The officials said it amounted to the largest ring of fraud and kickbacks uncovered in the „conflict“ there. One of the investigations involved a senior American officer who worked closely with Gen. David H. Petraeus in setting up the logistics operation to supply the Iraqi forces when General Petraeus was in charge of training and equipping those forces in 2004 and 2005.

In July 2007, the US Government Accountability Office found tremendous discrepancies in American military records, reporting that the American military „cannot fully account for about 110,000 AK-47 rifles, 90,000 pistols, 80 items of body armor, and 115,000 helmets reported as issued to Iraqi security forces as of Sept. 22, 2005,“ because the US military in Iraq under General David Petraeus allegedly did not take the routine step of recording serial numbers for US weapons in a war zone.

„TURKISH SUSPICIONS“

According to the Turkish government in August, the results of an internal investigation indicate that U.S. troops were involved in selling arms to the PKK (2). And even before that the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan were quite straight about it:
„We can see that many of the confiscated weapons (used by PKK members) are U.S.-made. It is not clear whether they (U.S.) are supplying the weapons or they (PKK members) are getting it from somewhere else. But a serious amount of weapons confiscated so far are U.S.-made,“ Erdogan told NTV television on July 16. (3)
Four PKK terrorists had handed themselves over to Turkish authorities after escaping from a PKK camp in northern Iraq, claiming they had seen two U.S. armored vehicles deliver weapons to the PKK in their camp. Shortly after that the Turkish Ambassador to Washington Nabi Şensoy said in July U.S. weapons had been turning up in the hands of the PKK members staging attacks in Turkey.

He did not suggest that the U.S. has been supplying the PKK directly. But he accused Kurdish members of the Iraqi government of allowing the group to operate in northern Iraq and to stage cross-border attacks into Turkey. (3)

THE US-PJAK/PEJAK-PKK CONNECTION

There is another possibility. Covert U.S. arms supplies to the anti-Iranian Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) could have been shared with Kurdish comrades in the PKK. According to media reports PJAK leader Rahman Haj-Ahmadi has been in Washington a few months ago seeking financial and military aid for his movement, despite PJAK and the PKK being designated terrorist organizations. PJAK is effectively an offshoot of the PKK and shares many of the same facilities and resources in the Qandil Mountains. (2)

There are serious, widespread reports that the US and Israeli governments are supporting the terrorist militia PJAK.
Last November Seymour Hersh wrote in „The Next Act“ (4):
„In the past six months, Israel and the United States have also been working together in support of a Kurdish resistance group known as the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan. The group has been conducting clandestine cross-border forays into Iran, I was told by a government consultant with close ties to the Pentagon civilian leadership, as `part of an effort to explore alternative means of applying pressure on Iran.` (The Pentagon has established covert relationships with Kurdish, Azeri, and Baluchi tribesmen, and has encouraged their efforts to undermine the regime`s authority in northern and southeastern Iran.) The government consultant said that Israel is giving the Kurdish group `equipment and training.` The group has also been given `a list of targets inside Iran of interest to the U.S.`“

The chief of PJAK, Rahman Haj-Ahmadi – who were able to travel to Washington this summer to seek support for his terrorist militia – is living in Germany under surveillance – some say:protection – of the German foreign intelligence service „Bundesnachrichtendienst“ (BND) and the inner intelligence service „Verfassungsschutz“ here in Berlin. He said in an interview in April that the PJAK is recruiting fighters in Germany for war in Kurdistan against Iran – while German intelligence is watching. (5)

Meir Javedanfar, an Israel-based Iran expert, noted in February that Israel has a long-standing relationship with Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani (KDP):
„It would not surprise me to discover that Israel is using the Kurdish areas of Iraq to undermine Iran‘s influence in Iraq and monitor what‘s going on along the Iranian border, as well as to undermine the Iranian government itself,“ Javedanfar said. According to a PEJAK training camp commander, Hussein Afsheen, „PKK gives ideological and logistical support“ to the western backed militia. (18)

Last April US Congressman Dennis Kucinich wrote a letter to President Bush (6) asking him specifically about the PJAK.
„Last week I wrote to you regarding reports that U.S. troops are conducting military operations in Iran. There are also reports, however, that the U.S. is fomenting opposition and supporting military operations in Iran among insurgent groups and Iranian ethnic minority groups, some of whom are operating from Iraq.
The Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PEJAK) is one such group. PEJAK is based in the Kurdish region of Iraq, a few miles from the Iranian border, and has staged attacks across the border in Iran since 2004 on behalf of Iranian Kurdish interests, according to an April 3, 2006 article in the Washington Times…Iran has denounced PEJAK as a terrorist group and has accused the U.S. of funding PEJAK. According to an April 15, 2006 article in the Economist, Iranians and Turks both believe that the U.S. is supporting PEJAK. It is hard to believe that PEJAK is operating successfully from Iraq without U.S. knowledge, support and coordination.“

DEVELOPING A WAR

Since end of 2006 the Turkish military is massing troops at the Iraqi border (6), which is actually the border of an independent Kurdistan since the first American invasion 1991.
But there is no „Turkish“ policy in that. There are two main oppositional parties in Turkey: the elected conservative government under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his former Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul (who is now President), and the Turkish military under General Yasar Buyukanit (Büyükanit ) and his Vice chief of staff General Ergin Saygun.

Yasar Buyukanit is the former Chief of the Intelligence Division Basic Intelligence Branch Forces and Systems Section at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Mons, Belgium.
After graduating from the NATO Defense College, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in 1988. He served as the 2nd Armored Brigade Commander and then as the Chief of Intelligence Department at AFSOUTH Headquarters in Naples, Italy. (7)

On October 18 General Yasar Buyukanit visited Naples after meeting the Italian Chief of General Staff in Rome two days before (8).

There is not much information in English about the highest military commander in Italy.
Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola (German Wikipedia says, 9), who is in office at present, had a predecessor called Rolando Mosca Moschini (10). Moschini spent at least 5 years of his military career in London. From 1991 to 1993 he was Vice Chief of the CESIS department in Italian Governent which controlled the Italian secret services. He was also in direct control of the military secret service SISMI.
Moschini directed Italian military operations in Kurdistan after the invasion 2003. in 2004 he became the chief of the EU military body in Brussel. He is now a direct military advisor to the President of Italy in Rome, Giorgio Napolitano, who is the supreme commander of the Italian Forces.

General Yasar Buyukanit returned from Italy and took part of the Turkish security summit under the chairmanship of Turkish President Abdullah Gul two days ago (11). Yesterday he pressed for „strikes on Iraq“. That increased the pressure on Erdogan´s and Gul´s government. (12)

Even others were clapping hands.
„`It would be a major incursion,‘ said Michael Radu yesterday, co- chairman of the Center on Terrorism at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia. The Turks „cannot pull back now and say, `We have made all these noises and we increased oil prices and OK, we‘ll send 200 people in.‘ That is not going to happen,`“ the US strategist said. (12)

WHO IS IN CONTROL?

„Kurdish officials close to Qandil are strangely eager to disclaim any authority over their own sovereign territory,“ Patrick Cockburn from CounterPunch wrote about a trip to Kurdistan in July (13).
„A referendum is to be held in northern Iraq by the end of 2007 under which the oil city of Kirkuk may vote to join the KRG (Kurdistan). The incentive for a Turkish invasion is growing by the day.
`Everything depends on the result of the Turkish election,` says Dr Mahmoud Othman, a veteran Iraqi Kurdish politician.
If the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, wins a two-thirds majority then the pressure for an invasion may be off. But if he believes he lost votes because his anti-PKK and Turkish nationalist credentials were not strong enough then he might want to burnish them by ordering a cross border incursion.“

„The Turkish military is concerned that the Americans are in cahoots with the (Iraqi) Kurds and in contact with the PKK.“ Who said so? CNN Turk diplomatic editor Semih Idiz, already in February. (14)
Also early this year the declared aim of Prime Minister Erdogan was not only to crack down on guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers‘ Party (PKK), but also to protect the rights of ethnic Turkomens in the oil-rich city Kirkuk.
„There are efforts to alter the demographic structure of Kirkuk. We cannot remain a bystander to such developments,“ (15) Erdogan told members of his ruling Justice and Development Party Jan. 17.
Some Kurdish leaders also feared at that time a new war front could open up in Iraq‘s northern Kurdistan region, far the safest part of the war-torn country. They feared that could open the door for further intervention by other regional powers like Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia.

At the same time – in February – Turkish battleships left their ports patrolling the eastern Mediterranean, obviously because of oil deals between Greek Cyprus, Libanon and Egypt. Cyprus is claiming rights in the region. (16)
It seemed as if some western backed governments started certain provocations against Turkish interests to achieve specific military operations by the Turkish military. In fact, there is also a German fleet in the region before the coasts of Lebanon and Syria, as a result of the Lebanon War in Summer 2006.

„I have said to the Americans many times: suppose there is a terrorist organisation in Mexico attacking America. What would you do?… We are hopeful. We have high expectations. But we cannot just wait forever,“ Turkish President Abdullah Gul said in March. (17)
But nothing happened. The US forces continued to do „what they can“ – nothing. In fact, they delivered weapons to the PKK militia, if you believe the witnesses and the Turkish Government.

Mahmudiya, South of Iraq, May 12: An American patrol gets ambushed. 5 soldiers die, 3 get captured. About 4000 U.S. ground troops swarm the area, supported by satellites, surveillance aircraft, helicopters.
The surge turns into a search.
May 14: The group „Islamic State in Iraq“ claims responsibility not only for the capturing of the U.S. soldiers – they did so on Sunday, May 13 – but also for two major terror attacks: two „suicide bombings“ on May 9 in the Kurdish capital Erbil (Irbil) (the day when Dick Cheney arrived in Baghdad) and on May 13 in the Kurdish town of Makhmour, which is near to the oil-rich Mosul, but (still) outside the „autonomous Kurdish region“. (19)

On July 18 the Bush Government admitted in a press conference that this group „Islamic State in Iraq“ never existed.
White House Speaker Tony Snow did not lose one single word about who then abducted the US soldiers on May 12 and who blew off the bombs in Kurdistan. And no reporter asked about it. (20)

On August 23 Iranian troops crossed the border to Iraq/Kurdistan and penetrated five kilometers into Iraqi territory at the Kandil Mountains near the Turkish border. „The Iranian army launched a full-scale war,“ a local official in the region said.
„Nadir.org“ also reported about secret intelligence and military meetings between Turkey, Iran and the Kurdish Party PUK, which controls the south of Kurdistan while the other main Kurdish Party KDP (of Massoud Barzani) rules the north.
Before that the NATO country Turkey had sent 200 military officers to Iran for collaborating during the intrusion. (21)

On that day the Norwegian oil company DNO announced that a large western oil company had offered $700m for oil assets in Iraqi Kurdistan owned by DNO. DNO refused to name the company, but industry executives speculated that Royal Dutch Shell was a possible bidder, MSNBC said. Shell refused to comment.
The Tawke oil fields of DNO are located at the Kurdish town Zakho, near the Turkish border.
There are strong disputes between the Kurdish authorities and the Iraqi central government about oil profits and Kirkuk in particular.
In 2005, Shell signed an agreement to study the northern Kirkuk oilfield (21) – with Baghdad…

related articles:
24.08.07
Iran Troops Cross Border Of Iraq (Kurdistan), Cooperating With Turkey
http://www.radio-utopie.de/index.php?themenID=860

14.05.07
THE PLAN III – Petraeus and the three-dimensional chess in the dark
http://www.radio-utopie.de/english.php?themenID=497&JAHR_AKTUELL=2007&MON_AKTUELL=5

14.05.07
THE PLAN II – The Kurdistan Plot and The Mother Of War
http://www.radio-utopie.de/english.php?themenID=496&JAHR_AKTUELL=2007&MON_AKTUELL=5

11.05.07
Iraq: terror plot in Kurdistan against US and EU?
http://www.radio-utopie.de/english.php?themenID=487&JAHR_AKTUELL=2007&MON_AKTUELL=5

sources:
(1)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/28/world/middleeast/28military.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2&ref=middleeast&oref=slogin
(2)
http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2373618
(3)
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=78631
(4)
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/061127fa_fact
(5)
http://www.taz.de/index.php?id=start&art=1054&id=442&cHash=d28c91b5a3
(6)
http://www.bitsofnews.com/content/view/4714/2/
(7)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ya%C5%9Far_B%C3%BCy%C3%BCkan%C4%B1t
(8)
http://www.hri.org/cgi-bin/brief?/news/turkey/trkpr/2007/07-10-17.trkpr.html#08
(9)
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giampaolo_Di_Paola
(10)
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolando_Mosca_Moschini
(11)
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-10/21/content_6918727.htm
(12)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aa16LVehMeiU&refer=home
(13)
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/57592/
(14)
http://www.aina.org/news/20070204123351.htm
(15)
http://www.antiwar.com/ips/salih.php?articleid=10458
(16)
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=65353
(17)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/turkey/story/0,,2041022,00.html
(18)
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=101921&bolum=102
(19)
http://www.radio-utopie.de/english.php?themenID=495&JAHR_AKTUELL=2007&MON_AKTUELL=5
(20)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070718-7.html
(21)
http://www.radio-utopie.de/index.php?themenID=860