Same As It Ever Was

The Prince of Peace was nowhere to be seen in Kurdistan yesterday when Turkish jets, supplied by U.S. taxpayers and guided by U.S. intelligence, again hit northern Iraq, the third such assault in the past 10 days. As is usually the case, those suspected dead were terrorists and terrorists only, since NATO blows apart strictly those who wave rifles and shout terrorist slogans with their dying breath. At least, that's how the wire services report it, and that's good enough for me.

Turkey claims to be retaliating for PKK violence against its troops, which I've no doubt is true, as both sides have smoldering entrails and blasted brains all over their clothing and boots, part of an ongoing nationalist war that has no end in sight. And where does the U.S. stand in the midst of all this? With our NATO ally, of course. "Liberating" the Kurds from Saddam's grip is one thing, as that served to make it seem like the U.S. is interested in regional freedom and self-determination. But Kurdish nationalists clearly don't know their place; and when they use northern Iraq as a staging area to attack Turkish targets, happy days are over. Turkish interests, which are essentially U.S. and Israeli interests as well, seriously trump Kurdish territorial and cultural aspirations every fucking time.

This is nothing new. Bill Clinton bankrolled and backed Turkey's massive ethnic cleansing against the Kurds in the 1990s, killing tens of thousands, destroying countless villages, and sending millions into refuge. Of course, American liberals then said little to nothing about that, preferring to paint Slobodan Milošević as the world's worst ethnic cleanser, calling for U.S. military action against Serbia, which eventually arrived and which they applauded in 1999. Today, I've seen little liberal commentary about the continuation of this policy, apart from some slams against Bush and his failed war in Iraq.

Perhaps once the holidays pass, liberal commentators will raise their voices a bit higher. If they do in any critical fashion, expect them to start their Turkey/Kurd timeline with Bush's invasion of Iraq, since everything bad that's happened in recent history can be traced solely back to Bush. Bill Clinton? Still one of the Greatest Presidents Ever, if not The Greatest Of All Time. The worst thing Big Bill ever did was lie about a blowjob. So goes the liberal catechism. And if you don't agree with that, you're a rightwing racist wingnut in need of immediate mental care.