One of Turkey's biggest fears is that that the Kurds will become a separate state. GWB promised them it wouldn't happen. The problem Hussein was having with the Kurds centered around their trying to secede.

The Turks concern is that with a weak, ineffectual government in Baghdad the countryside will revert to tribalism, much as it has in Afghanistan, where the "government" controls Kabul with US military help, and some of the rest of the bigger cities with the permission of local warlords.

And the Turks don't want a bunch of nationalistic, restless Kurds on their border stirring up their own Kurds. Which is about to happen, contrary to GWB's promises. The entire region is becoming destabilized, as was predicted.

It's not quite a quagmire for Turkey, though. It's more of a plain problem. The "coalition" consists of 140,000 US troops and a total of 30,000 for the rest of the "coalition", including less than 9,000 Brits. Therefore, it's not a quagmire for anyone else but the United States. They can leave if they can't stay. Not US.

Arf