Predicament For U.S in Northern Iraq

I S T A N B U L, Turkey, April 3 -- What a difference a personal visit makes, especially when the visitor is the U.S. secretary of state and the meeting is Ankara, the Turkish capital.

Within hours of a public appearance by Colin Powell and Abdullah Gul, the Turkish foreign minister,Turkish truck drivers raced over the roads of southeast Turkey loaded with U.S. military humvees bound for northern Iraq. A mass movement of American equipment was expected to cross into northern Iraq Friday morning.

"We have solved all the outstanding issues with respect to providing supplies through Turkey to those units that are doing such a wonderful job in northern Iraq," Powell said to a swarm of international media on Wednesday. Powell's trip was the first foreign trip by a senior member of the Bush administration since the war with Iraq began.

And Turkey was an obvious choice. The Pentagon's "Northern Front" has been stymied by a "no" vote in Turkey's parliament on March 1. The "no" kept tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers from deploying in Turkey and moving into northern Iraq to put additional pressure on Saddam's forces surrounding Baghdad.

"Our discussions were very productive," said Powell at the end of his talks in Ankara. The Turkish government's decision to allow the shipment of food and medicine and other non-lethal supplies to U.S. forces in the north and the agreement to open Turkish air bases for medical emergency flights are important boosts for the northern front.

It will be good news for the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade and some small special forces units already working in northern Iraq. The agreement will help expand military operations there.

Turkey's foreign minister said there would be no need for a new parliamentary vote. The tone of the meeting was extremely warm and friendly, a remarkable turnaround in an alliance that has been on the ropes. One issue that has brought the United States and Turkey close to divorce court is the Iraqi Kurds.

The Turks and the Kurds