The US is still supporting the PKK against Turkey. The latest US deception that it intends to help Turkey is in the matter of intelligence sharing on PKK attacks on Turkish forces. US policy on intelligence sharing could weaken Turkey and embolden the PKK, as follows.

The US is advising Turkey against a broad offensive in northern Iraq. As a substitute, the US favors pinpoint Turkish air strikes against a limited range of targets that the US would choose. By manipulating the intelligence flow, the US would be able to dictate the scope and timing of the Turkish military campaign. Under this agreement, the US could dilute and delay the Turkish anti-PKK campaign. In fact, the US may hope that with the onset of winter weather in northern Iraq, Turkey will be forced to soon cancel the anti-PKK campaign.

If Turkey insists on moving ahead with an immediate anti-PKK campaign, the US could even share the same intelligence provided to Turkey with Kurdish president Barzani and the Kurdish peshmerga as a means of protecting the PKK. Moreover, by accepting such intelligence sharing arrangements Turkey is accepting primary responsibility --- under highly disadvantageous terms -- for cleaning up the PKK mess that was first created by the US.

Finally, the US is not offering to correct its own policies that boost the PKK by driving Iraq into a political partition. The US could cancel the Kirkuk referendum, force the Hunt oil company out of the oil deal with Barzani, and ask Barzani to integrate the peshmerga militia into the Iraqi army.

In short, under these pro-PKK US policies the PKK will continue to prosper in northern Iraq. Meanwhile, Turkey is facing defeat in northern Iraq at the hands of Barzani and the PKK. If President Bush considers Turkey an ally, the US should take the offensive on moving the PKK from northern Iraq. President Erdogan has asked the US to choose between Turkey or the PKK. The US should choose Turkey.