Lame Duck to Turkey: Stop cooking my goose!

Did anyone else see the richly ironic footage of President Bush pleading with the Turkish Parliament not to authorize pursuit of Kurdish militants into northern Iraq?

Thus does the Decider become the Pleader. What else can he do? The Turkish parliament and government have the right at international law to defend their borders... and even to call on fellow NATO states to assist in their defence if attacked by another country.

But wait! The USA has already invaded Iraq to keep the oil - I mean the peace. So perhaps President Bush can argue that's he's already leaving no stone unturned to assist (except presumably in areas littered with unexploded ordnance since 2003).

Unlike President Bush, however, the Turkish government can offer substantive evidence of a link between Iraq and "international terrorism" directed at Turkish nationals. It can even point to the threat posed to Turkey's territorial integrity by de facto (and perhaps eventually de jure) Kurdish autonomy in northern Iraq.

I'm not sure even the Federal Reserve could help the CIA create enough fiat money to keep the Turkish government quiet about this one - and it could cost the American taxpayer a lot more money yet to find that out...