Turkey wraps

Turkey heeded demands from U.S. officials today and withdrew its forces from northern Iraq, where its troops had mounted an offensive against Kurdish rebels. Turkey said its forces had killed 240 rebels in eight days of fighting. The offensive apparently had U.S. backing when it began, since Turkey was given access to U.S. satellite intelligence, but that support appeared to fade after a few days when the Iraqi government complained about the encroachment on its sovereignty. President Bush called for a quick end to the campaign yesterday and U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates left for Ankara on Wednesday. U.S. officials feared a long incursion would eventually involve the largely autonomous oil-rich Kurdish region in Iraq. "It must be recognized that military power alone will not resolve this conflict," Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barhan Salih, a Kurd, told the Reuters international news agency. "The time has come to engage all political and diplomatic initiatives to pursue a resolution to the underlying causes for this conflict," he said. The U.S. State Department called Turkey's withdrawal "a good thing." Turkey blames the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) for 40,000 deaths in southern Turkey since 1984, when its campaign for a Kurdish state began. Its fighters are believed to be hiding in the mountainous region along the Turkey-Iraq border. Both Turkey and the United States consider the PKK to be a terrorist organization.

Criminal thinking

So, is contempt of Congress a real crime or not? This apparently will be up to the federal courts to decide now that Attorney General Michael Mukasey has refused Congress' request to bring citations against one present and one former top White House official. Mukasey said Friday that he would not prosecute former White House counsel Harriet Miers and current Chief of Staff Josh Bolten for refusing to cooperate with Congress' investigation into the firing of nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006. "The Department has determined that the non-compliance by Mr. Bolten and Ms. Miers with the Judiciary Committee subpoenas did not constitute a crime, and therefore the Department will not bring the congressional contempt citations before a grand jury or take any other action to prosecute Mr. Bolten or Ms. Miers," Mukasey said in a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, according to the Reuters international news service. Mukasey said President Bush had directed the two aides not to respond to the subpoenas, which was legal. Pelosi said Thursday she intended to go to court to enforce subpoenas issued by the House of Representatives last year — to Miers for testimony about the firings and to Bolten for failing to provide documents requested by the Judiciary Committee. But it's not clear what is in question here — why can't the House subpoena federal employees to give evidence in an investigation? How can this issue not yet be resolved after more than 200 years of federal law? If the issue goes all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, what will the justices who elected Bush do?

Misdemeanors

Could it be that House Democrats are finally going to fight the Bush administration on its rampant abuses of power? It's hard to applaud anything coming out of the government these days, even after the 2006 election returned Democratic Party majorities to both chambers of Congress. But some credit apparently is due to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, who today called on the Justice Department to begin a grand jury investigation into two top White House insiders who ignored Congressional subpoenas during the controversy over the politically motivated firings of nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006. The controversy led to the resignation of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales last year. Then-White House Counsel Harriet Miers declined to testify about the firings, and Chief of Staff Josh Bolten refused to turn over documents demanded by the House. The House voted 223-32 this month to hold Miers and Bolten in contempt of Congress in a vote boycotted by House Republicans. Pelosi gave Attorney General Michael Mukasey one week to respond and said the House would file a lawsuit if he did not, according to the Associated Press. Predictably, Pelosi's move was greeting with bombastic criticism from the White House, where a spokesman called it "truly contemptible." That may turn out to be a truly regrettable choice of words.

Kenya kudos

Congratulations are due all around in Kenya, now that President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga have agreed to a coalition government to end a bloody post-election crisis that threatened the very existence of one of Africa's greatest national success stories. The two rivals, who ran against each other for president in a close election in December, signed a deal today that they hope will put an end to ethnic violence that killed more than 1,000 and displaced more than 300,000 Kenyans. In fact, Kenyans danced in the streets today when the agreement was announced. Odinga will take a newly created role of prime minister in the new government and cabinet seats will be based on each party's seats in parliament, according to the Reuters international news service. Today's agreement resolves what had been a nearly intractable dispute between Kibaki's Party of National Unity and Odinga's Orange Democratic Union following the Dec. 27 election, in which Kibaki claimed re-election but Odinga claimed was stolen from him. Kibaki said he won fairly and blamed Odinga for encouraging unrest instead of going to court to challenge the result. The protests that followed the balloting turned violent after police opened fire on demonstrators, and normally orderly Kenyan society began to break down on old tribal lines. The violence and unrest damaged Kenya's reputation as a regional economic and transportation center. The parties also agreed to rewrite the country's constitution in an effort to redress long-standing political and economic grievances that apparently were behind the ethnic violence. The U.S. State Department applauded the deal Thursday, but said Kenyans who promoted violence still could face travel bans. Congratulations apparently were especially due to former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan of Ghana, who acted as mediator and kept negotiations from breaking down completely despite some perilous moments.

Planning omission

Six years, tens of billions of dollars and 2,300 dead and injured U.S. soldiers later, the U.S. backed government of Hamid Karzai controls only 30 percent of Afghanistan, top U.S. officials said yesterday. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell said it would take five years to get Afghani and Pakistani forces ready to defeat the resurgent Taliban, which controls more than 10 percent of the country, and other insurgents. Most of Afghanistan's territory and population are under the control of local tribes, not the government, McConnell said, according to the Associated Press. Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, the Defense Intelligence Agency director, told the committee at the same hearing that the Pakistani government was trying to crack down on the lawless tribal area along the Afghan border area where Taliban and al-Qaida are believed to train. "Pakistani military operations in the (region) have not fundamentally damaged al-Qaida's position," Maples said. "The tribal areas remain largely ungovernable and, as such, they will continue to provide vital sanctuary to al-Qaida, the Taliban and regional extremism." Maybe the Congress can find out who is responsible for this mess.

Turkish traffic

Turkey's military incursion into northern Iraq illustrates further just how complex and dangerous the U.S. mission was from the start and continues to be. Just when the administration was touting the successes of U.S. forces and allies in gaining control of Iraq, NATO member Turkey has launched an attack with warplanes, attack helicopters and as many as 10,000 soldiers that threatens everything. Ankara contends its incursion is temporary and aimed only at Kurdish guerrillas, who live in the mountainous region on Iraq's northern border and have launched attacks of their own against Turkey to advance their cause of setting up a Kurdish state. Southeastern Turkey is home to millions of Kurds. The United States apparently agreed to the incursion, but now appears to be having second thoughts. The U.S.-backed government of Iraq calls the attack a violation of its sovereignty and demands immediate withdrawal. The last thing anyone needs is a war between U.S.-armed Turkey and the U.S.-trained and armed fledgling Iraq state. Acting Iraqi Prime Minister Barham Saleh said Wednesday that a prolonged offensive by Turkey would lead to "dire" consequences for the region, according to the Reuters international news service. "This is a very dangerous, precarious situation," Saleh told Reuters at a conference in Baghdad. Top Turkish officials are scheduled to meet today in Baghdad. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who is due to meet today with Turkish officials in Ankara on Thursday, said Turkey must limit operations in Iraq to no more than a couple of weeks.

Unexpected sense

The head of the Arab League has called on countries exacerbating political problems in Lebanon — presumably Syria and Iran — to ease up and let politicians in Beirut figure out what to do. Secretary General Amr Moussa, an Egyptian, said in comments to be published tomorrow that the problem of foreign influence in Lebanon was so great it had the potential to threaten other countries in the region. Moussa was in Beirut this week to broker talks between Lebanon's governing coalition and the Hezbollah-led opposition, which are engaged in a power struggle over control over the government, according to the Reuters international news service. Lebanon has been without a president for the past three months. Moussa, who reported no progress in the talks, called the power struggle "unprecedented," and called for "new Arab and regional efforts" to resolve the crisis. Coalition leader Saad al-Hariri is a Sunni Muslim while the opposition is primarily Shiite. The coalition is backed by the United States, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, while the opposition is backed by Syria and Iran, Reuters said.