War on Terror: US vs. Turkey

Another researcher started at my firm this week, so I have more time (relatively speaking) to do some reading related to my field - not that I read Washington Post or NY Times regularly but there is only so much I can do online until I get bored and want to read something informative-. I mean I keep myself informed on current matters but I don't thoroughly read opinions or investigate regularly, which I should considering that I am a political science major but that doesn't mean that I can't form informed opinions. This week I've been reading a lot about the intelligence in the United States and the counterintelligence efforts in Afghanistan. It just made me think about what we (in this blog I will refer to Turkey as we) are doing to keep us safe against PKK (Kurdish Labor Party - located in the mountains of Nortern Iraq) I wanted to write about the questions I had over the comparison of efforts against terrorism between Turkey and the US.

There was an investigative series published last week called "Top Secret America" (www.topsecretamerica.com) on Washington Post about the growing intelligence community in the United States. Honestly, it was a mind blowing read. I am not going to summarize it in detail (if you are interested click the link above) but it described the extent of influence that the intelligence community has in the continental US. The series of articles published are compiled from public records only so it poses no threat to the safety of Americans or so they claim. One of the first comparisons I want to make is about how the Post was able to publish this series. Obviously they contacted governments officials before publishing and removed some stuff accordingly but although some officials were against the series in its entireity, they went with it and published it. If an article even remotely resembling this one were to be published in Turkey, some many internal dynamics would come in to play to censor it I can't even imagine how many. We need something like the Freedom of Information Act in Turkey. As a tax payer and citizen of Turkey, I would like to know what my country does intelligence wise to stop the killings of young Turkish men.

The same article that I mentioned above has the financial details on the different intelligence agencies' buildings. After reading that the new expansion of the NSA would cost more than a billion dollars, I started thinking of how much Turkey is spending on intelligence. I don't expect us to spend the same amount on defense or intelligence with the richest country in the world but I expect us to make use of modern intelligence techniques (or hear about their use) more often. I want my intelligence officers to intercept calls, use human intelligence assets, use predators, freeze bank accounts etc. I'd like to be fair on them since no one informs the general public of the processes that take place when terrorists attack our soldiers around the border with IEDs. But why can't we intercept the calls that originate from Kandil mountain (PKK hideout located in Northern Iraq)? If someone is intercepting these calls like the CIA or NSA, why can't we coordinate the intelligence like it was promised last year? I think we should be looking into privatizing intelligence and maybe defense industries not just for security purposes but to create business in the deprived regions. There's more scrutiny in budgeting in Turkey so I don't think lobbying would be a big issue here. Individual congressmen do not have the same power over subcommittees as they have in the states and party discipline is the only way to get elected here so whatever the leader says, they follow. Therefore, I don't think private contractors could influence local politics or national agenda like they do in the States (unless the Prime Minister is corrupt).

One last thought about the war on terror in the Southeastern Region of Turkey before I end this entry: if the United States were to be constantly under attack from Mexico in Texas (it could be any state bordering Mexico with a considerable number of Mexican immigrants), wouldn't the US destroy Mexico immediately? Why are we under so much pressure to keep the Kurds happy in Northern Iraq? I personally think it is because they have oil and they can be bought. Why else would they (PKK) would be able to protect their hideouts with patriot missiles (American anti-Aircraft technology) and use American made weapons. Hmmm... The Turkish military certainly hints how the terrorists came in possesion of the guns in their press releases but our politics is so dependant on the United States like many others, that we have to shut up about what we actually think. I am NOT saying we should turn into North Korea or Iran but we can definitely politicize with character. We should be able turn down the US proposals if they are not in our best interest. If we are willing to use up all of the political power we have to back up Iran in the UN (Turkey rejected tougher sanctions on Iran in the UN this year as a temporary member of the Security Council), then we should stop pursuing the EU. It is time to make decisions about our future. I am sick of the populist Turkish politics (I need to concentrate on this in a later post). Maybe it is time to regret not going in to Iraq with the United States (the proposed deal was to only enter Northern Iraq for security and not engage unless attacked first but it was turned down in the Parliament). Just maybe..

More to come later. I want to talk about the Arizona immigration law being shut down in a later post, good for humanity and justice!

I just want to add some of my own thoughts about the same issue Mutu talked about. I agree with the general point of the post and believe that the only reason the problem of PKK terror not being resolved is the United States' interest in the region. PKK, being USA's strategic ally in the region uses American weaponry like Mutu said and we can not get the intelligence as we are promised. Turkey-US relations are complete lies when it comes to dealing with terror. If United States really wanted to help and end the PKK terror, the terror would have been over so long ago. With today's intelligence technology USA possesses, it should be very easy to end the constant death of Turkish youth.

Cem