Blame Bush, Blame Obama, but HOW ABOUT ERDOWANG???

[ScottL]

ISIS' rise and expansion are owed to many things. Two stand out.

First, the US withdrawal from Iraq in 2011 left the Sunnis with no protection from Iran. It also gave al Queda the freedom to rebuild in the open without peril.

The other enabler of ISIS has been Erdowang, who has allowed ISIS to use Turkey as a logistical, recruiting, and economic base. ISIS operated openly because Erdowang shielded them.

Today ISIS is accumulating chemical weapons in Syria!

The only way to stop the next wave of terrorism, the chemical wave (Guns???) is to toss Turkey out of NATO and cut it off from the EU. Otherwise, ISIS' chemical weapons could be used in the next Nice, Paris, Orlando and San Bernadino.

Whatever happens next in Turkey will make the rest of the world less safe, unless it is cut off.

As long as Western Liberals consider the Muslim Brotherhood less extreme than the political Right in the own countries, Turkey will not be expelled from NATO or cut off from the EU. Therefore ISIS SCUM will continue to expand and attack the West.

 

[Willie99]

but we must protect the democratically elected President of Turkey

calls Trump dangerous

was vocal against the democratic vote in Briexit

but supports a man who supports ISIS, gotta love it



sorry Scott, couldn't resist

 

[ScottL]

You remember what room I'm in, right Barry?

 

[ScottL]

No Call Between Defense Secretary and Turkish Counterpart as Incirlik Power Still Cut

July 18, 2016

U.S. Air Force airmen prepare to unload a C-5M Super Galaxy from Dover Air Force Base, Del., at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, Aug. 9, 2015.

ARLINGTON, Va. -- The Pentagon said today that Turkish officials still have not restored power to Incirlik Air Base, the launching pad for operations against the Islamic State, since it was cut as a result of Friday's coup attempt.

Press secretary Peter Cook told reporters today that Defense Secretary Ashton Carter had not "spoken directly" with Turkey's defense minister, Fikri Isik.

Isik appears busy with his boss' purge, as he told Anadolu Agency that the country "never witnessed such a flagrant act of betrayal as that last coup attempt."

Cook added that Turkey had been "invited to participate" in a Wednesday meeting at Joint Base Andrews that's expected to draw defense ministers from about 30 countries to talk ISIS.

"He spoke recently with the minister of defense at the Warsaw Summit," Cook said, referring to a pre-coup event. "They has an excellent bilateral conversation then and he looks forward to talking with the minister in coming days."
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On Incirlik: "My understanding, power has not yet been restored, but our operations there do continue. And we're going to continue to take whatever steps we need to, to try to mitigate any impact that there could be on the campaign itself."

Asked why the power was cut in the first place and how much longer restoration would take, the spokesman replied the power issue "is something that is outside the walls of the base itself."

"So, I'll leave it to the Turkish officials to describe to you what's happening with -- in terms of the effort to restore power and what led to the outage in the first place," he said.

Incirlik Airbase commander General Bekir Ercan Van was arrested in a raid on the facility. The government said it also wants to weed out other soldiers there accused of complicity in the coup attempt.

Cook said the U.S. has had refueling and attack aircraft based out of Incirlik.

"Incirlik is obviously an important part of our military campaign. And we've used it very effectively. And we appreciate, of course, the Turks' willingness to allow us to fly operations out of there, the coalition as a whole. It's not just U.S. aircraft," he added.

"And it will continue to be an important part of the campaign. We were able to conduct the campaign previously, without having Incirlik. We have the ability to adjust our operations in such a way that we can account for problems or delays there."

Cook stressed the Defense Department would "adjust, as we need to, to make sure we keep the pressure on ISIL, that we keep our operations going."

"And we are very thankful the -- that the coalition is able to -- to adjust in other ways should there be any sort of delay or some sort of impact on our operations going forward," he said.

 

[ScottL]

The swift rounding up of judges and others after a failed coup in Turkey indicated the government had prepared a list beforehand, the EU commissioner dealing with Turkey's membership bid, Johannes Hahn, said on Monday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-security-eu-hahn-idUSKCN0ZY0EA

 

[ScottL]

Syria Must Explain Chemical Warfare Agents: Watchdog
The world's chemical weapons watchdog is pressing Syria to explain why it has four undeclared warfare agents, its head said July 13, after a U.S. official accused Damascus of continuing to hoard a toxic stockpile. Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons chief Ahmet Uzumcu said despite previous declarations by Syria, OPCW teams have found indications of five additional chemical agents.
The U.S. permanent representative to the OPCW voiced frustration with Syria's perceived lack of cooperation in the process to verify its chemical arsenal. Kenneth Ward said the OPCW's latest findings were "indicative of (the) production, weaponization and storage of chemical warfare agent by the Syrian military." (AFP/Daily Star - Lebanon)

 

[ScottL]

• In Coup's Aftermath, New Rifts between U.S. and Turkey - Yochi Dreazen
  The United States has long wanted Erdogan to do more to fight the Islamic State and moderate his increasingly authoritarian tendencies, but the coup attempt seems likely to push Erdogan in the opposite direction. Turkish officials, for their part, have blamed the coup on Fethullah Gulen, a 75-year-old cleric living in exile in Pennsylvania, and hinted that Washington was somehow complicit in the attempted putsch, charges the White House has angrily denied.
  The sharp exchanges in the aftermath of the coup come on top of the long-standing U.S. criticism of Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian tendencies, which include opening roughly 2,000 legal cases against political opponents, journalists, comedians, and ordinary Turks accused of insulting the president.
  Ankara, for its part, has bristled at American support for the Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG, which has emerged as one of Washington's most effective battlefield allies in the ground fight against the Islamic State. Ankara sees the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, a militant group that has killed hundreds of Turkish civilians and security personnel as it battles to create a Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey. (Foreign Policy)

 

[ScottL]

[h=3]All of Secular Society Under Attack in Turkey[/h]
By Rick Moran July 19, 2016



Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan wants to reinstitute the death penalty to deal with coup participants, and you have to wonder just how many he wants to execute.


Erdogan vastly expanded his purge today, including university deans and professors, as well as more judges and prosecutors in an apparent wholesale assault on secular society. The total number of arrests and firings is now over 50,000.
Reuters:

Around 50,000 soldiers, police, judges, civil servants and teachers have been suspended or detained since the coup attempt, stirring tensions across the country of 80 million which borders Syria's chaos and is a Western ally against Islamic State.

"This parallel terrorist organisation will no longer be an effective pawn for any country," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, referring to what the government has long alleged is a state within a state controlled by followers of Fethullah Gulen.
"We will dig them up by their roots," he told parliament.


A spokesman for President Tayyip Erdogan said the government was preparing a formal request to the United States for the extradition of Gulen, who Turkey says orchestrated the failed military takeover on Friday in which at least 232 people were killed.


U.S. President Barack Obama discussed the status of Gulen in a telephone call with Erdogan on Tuesday, the White House said, urging Ankara to show restraint as it pursues those responsible for the coup attempt.


In parallel talks, U.S. Defence Secretary Ash Carter and his Turkish counterpart discussed the importance of Turkey's Incirlik Air Base in the campaign against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, the Pentagon said.


The base, which is used by Turkish and U.S. forces in the air campaign against Islamic State, has been without power in the days since the failed coup.


Seventy-five-year-old Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania but has a network of supporters within Turkey, has condemned the abortive coup and denied any role in it.


A former ally-turned critic of Erdogan, he suggested the president staged it as an excuse for a crackdown after a steady accumulation of control during 14 years in power.


On Tuesday, authorities shut down media outlets deemed to be supportive of the cleric and said 15,000 people had been suspended from the education ministry along with 100 intelligence officials. A further 492 people were removed from duty at the Religious Affairs Directorate, 257 at the prime minister's office and 300 at the energy ministry.
​

 

[ScottL]

Report: U.S. Transfers Nukes from Turkish Airbase - Georgi Gotev and Joel Schalit
Two independent sources told EurActiv.com that the U.S. has started transferring nuclear weapons stationed in Turkey to Romania. According to a recent report by the Stimson Center, since the Cold War, some 50 U.S. tactical nuclear weapons have been stationed at Turkey's Incirlik air base, 100 km. from the Syrian border. During the failed coup in Turkey in July, Incirlik's power was cut, and the Turkish government prohibited U.S. aircraft from flying in or out.
A source said U.S.-Turkey relations had deteriorated so much following the coup that Washington no longer trusted Ankara to host the weapons. The Romanian foreign ministry firmly dismissed the report that the country will house U.S. nukes. While it has never been officially confirmed, it is public knowledge that Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy host U.S. nuclear weapons. (EurActiv.com-Belgium)

 

[ScottL]

Putin has some nerve.....

Russia Presses Turkey for Access to NATO's Incirlik Air Base
Russian officials have reached out to Turkey to request access to the American-built Incirlik Air Base as a convenient launch pad for airstrikes in Syria. Senator Igor Morozov, a member of the Russian Parliament's upper house's committee on international affairs, said the development would enable the Russian air force to engage in "constant bombing" of ISIS and other jihadist groups to bring the conflict to a resolution faster. "You'll see, the next base will be Incirlik," he told Izvestia last week after Russian bombers started flying out of Iran. (Sputnik-Russia)

 

[ShotgunPete]

Report: U.S. Transfers Nukes from Turkish Airbase - Georgi Gotev and Joel Schalit
Two independent sources told EurActiv.com that the U.S. has started transferring nuclear weapons stationed in Turkey to Romania. According to a recent report by the Stimson Center, since the Cold War, some 50 U.S. tactical nuclear weapons have been stationed at Turkey's Incirlik air base, 100 km. from the Syrian border. During the failed coup in Turkey in July, Incirlik's power was cut, and the Turkish government prohibited U.S. aircraft from flying in or out.
A source said U.S.-Turkey relations had deteriorated so much following the coup that Washington no longer trusted Ankara to host the weapons. The Romanian foreign ministry firmly dismissed the report that the country will house U.S. nukes. While it has never been officially confirmed, it is public knowledge that Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy host U.S. nuclear weapons. (EurActiv.com-Belgium)

The best thing they have done !

 

[ShotgunPete]

Putin has some nerve.....

Russia Presses Turkey for Access to NATO's Incirlik Air Base
Russian officials have reached out to Turkey to request access to the American-built Incirlik Air Base as a convenient launch pad for airstrikes in Syria. Senator Igor Morozov, a member of the Russian Parliament's upper house's committee on international affairs, said the development would enable the Russian air force to engage in "constant bombing" of ISIS and other jihadist groups to bring the conflict to a resolution faster. "You'll see, the next base will be Incirlik," he told Izvestia last week after Russian bombers started flying out of Iran. (Sputnik-Russia)

I would hope this doesn't happen but with our leadership you never know.