In case you've been too distracted by Iran's nuclear antics, Hezb'allah's big adventure in Lebanon, or the Sunni—Shiite show in the greater Baghdad metropolis and haven't noticed the Turks and Kurds going at it in northern Iraq, here's a short update:

Turkish airforce attacks on Iraqi Kurdistan continue 8/25/2006  KurdishMedia.com

Amed — Kurdistan (KurdishMedia.com) 25 August 2006: For yet another day, the Turkish airforce continues cross—border raids on Iraqi Kurdistan.

Residents here in Amed (Diyarbakir) have heard the deafening echo of Turkey's F—16 fighters intermittently over the last three days and nights, with a number of jets leaving Amed early today.

Meanwhile, clashes between Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters and the Turkish military continue in northern (Turkish—occupied) Kurdistan, with a number of ambulances carrying wounded Turkish soldiers arriving in Amed from the Batman and Mardin provinces.

Batman province?

This is, admittedly, from a very pro—Kurdish source. However, the bit about the Turks occupying a portion of Iraqi Kurdistan is not new information. This has been reported previously by other sources and raises an interesting question: Why hasn't the U.S. told the Turks to get out? But then the PKK fighters are supposed to be Commie terrorists and perhaps the Turks are controlling them for us. But then, the Turks are becoming less and less Western and more and more Islamicist. For whom should we root?

Dennis Sevakis   8 26 06