Envoy: U.S. may has not ruled out military action against Kurdish rebels

Above: PKK fighters. Many Turks, including the Prime Minister are frustrated with U.S. inaction towards the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). But the goal of a separate Kurdistan is supported by many Kurdish Iraqis, America's most loyal partners in Iraq.

WASHINGTON -- The United States is dealing with Turkish complaints about Kurdish separatists operating in northern Iraq and has not ruled out military action against the rebels, the U.S. official assigned to handle the problem says.

Retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston, a special envoy tasked with countering the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, said Wednesday in an Associated Press interview that U.S. pressure has resulted in moves against the group's operations by Iraqi and European authorities...

Ralston said the United States has not yet met Turkish demands for the capture of PKK operatives and destruction of a rebel base in a mountainous area of Iraq near the Turkish and Iranian border. He said, however, that the United States would consider options against the group available to a U.S. military stretched by many challenges in Iraq.

Read the rest at the LA Times

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