NETHERLANDS: U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates wants better intelligence before PKK strike

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday (October 24) Turkey and the United States needed better intelligence about the location of Kurdish rebels hiding in northern Iraq before launching major strikes. "Without good intelligence, just sending large number of troops across the border, dropping bombs doesn't seem make much sense to me," he said when asked about the possibility of U.S. air strikes against the PKK. Washington has urged Ankara to show restraint after weekend attacks by rebels from Turkey's outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) killed 12 Turkish soldiers. Turkey, which has NATO's second biggest army, has deployed as many as 100,000 troops on the Iraqi border and warned it will launch a major incursion into northern Iraq against the PKK unless U.S. and Iraqi forces clamp down on the group. Gates also said at a a briefing after talks at the NATO summit, he did not get the assurances he sought of more allied support in Afghanistan. But he added it could have been worse. "I wouldn't say I am satisfied but I would say that today was a considerably more positive day than I anticipated," he said. Gates said that the problem was that the Alliance had not followed through in its overall commitment although individual nations had send operational mentoring and liaison teams, known as OMLETS, and provincial reconstruction team, known as PRTs.

ITN Source | October 25, 2007

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