Operation Northern Watch: Flying
through complicated political landscape
Story
and photos by Terry Boyd, Turkey bureau
A flight-line crew member
ducks down out of the blast from the engines of an F-15E at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey. |
IZMIR,
Turkey — The United States/United Kingdom coalition and the U.S. National Security
Council tell him "to keep Saddam in the box," Brig. Gen. Edward
"Buster" Ellis says.
And,
indeed, no Iraqi warplane has flown north of the 36th parallel since November 1999.
But the new
commander of Operation Northern Watch worries that U.S. public opinion could be
"captivated by our own culture."
Story lines
usually have a neat resolution. But Ellis said if the public thinks ONW "is going to
tee it up and kick it off," and there is going to be a winner and loser, they’re
wrong.
Operation
Northern Watch boils down to this: Coalition aircraft protect Kurds living in northern
Iraq.
But in
sharp contrast to the simplicity of the operation, ONW planes fly through a complex
political landscape fraught with contradictions and ethnic intrigues.
The
politics start in Washington and end in Ankara.
Media
reports last week stated that Air Force Gen. Joseph W. Ralston recommended that the Bush
administration end ONW patrols, wary of losses at a time when Iraqi attacks against U.S.
and British planes have intensified.
Those
reports stated that Ralston, commander in chief of the U.S. European Command, favors
responding to specific Iraqi threats in the no-fly zones.
Maj. Ed
Loomis, a EUCOM spokesman, declined to comment on the accuracy of those reports.
At the same
time, "you hear noises" that Turkey won’t renew ONW, said Michael Gunter, a
U.S. expert on the Kurds.
Turkish
leaders "flirt" with Saddam, "and certainly have more relations with him
than we do," Gunter said.
Turkey
allows U.S. and British planes to fly ONW missions from Incirlik Air Base at a time when
Ankara politicians are moving closer to Baghdad, and Turkish officials are complaining
that sanctions against Saddam are punishing Turkey’s foundering economy.
Senior Airman Joe
"Red" Sedlacek gives Capt. Tom Seymour the "hold" sign as he looks to
see other F-16Cs rolling out of their hardened hangars at Incirlik Air Base for a recent
ONW mission over northern Iraq. Sedlacek's day began at 6 a.m.; multiple checks and
maintenance on mission planes means pilots don't take off until late morning. |
But Turkey
needs ONW to keep tabs on Kurdish separatists, whom the Turks have fought for 16 years,
Gunter said.
During an
interview in late April, Ellis said he had received no indications from Washington of a
change in policy on Iraq. Ellis did say that U.S. officers examined informal contingency
plans should the Turkish parliament vote not to renew ONW.
The Turkish
parliament votes to renew ONW each June 30 and Jan. 31.
Could this
mission be flown from Aviano Air Base in Italy?
Yes, Ellis
said. But it would be tough.
Launching
missions 1,700 miles away from northern Iraq rather than 400 miles would mean people
working to their absolute limits of their normal duty day, "too long for many
crews," Ellis said.
"Could
it be done?" Ellis said. "Yes. Is it optimal? No. But the one thing I’ve
learned is that our Air Force can do almost anything you ask them to do."
So far,
Washington asks U.S. units to protect Kurds in the north from a vengeful Saddam.
Protecting
the people on the ground from each other is a much more difficult proposition.
A dozen
ethnic groups are packed into northern Iraq.
During the
past 10 years, the two major Iraqi Kurdish groups have spent far more time fighting each
other than Saddam.
The
Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan now are cooperating. Both
the KDP and the PUK sent representatives to Ankara last week, seeking support for their
fight against Iraq.
But in the
past, the groups also have looked to Syria, Iran and even Baghdad for support to fight one
another.
When
they’re not fighting each other, they’re often at odds with the Kurdistan
Workers Party, Turkish separatists known as the PKK.
"There
are voices [in Turkey saying] that there is no longer a need" for ONW, said Safeen
Dizayee, a KDP spokesman in Ankara.
But an
Iraqi feint against Kurdish forces at Bai’drah last December, which dissolved after
the threat of ONW air attacks, was "a reminder to Ankara that [the] threat is still
there. I think it’ll go on," Dizayee added.
The Bush
administration has promised a new Iraq policy in June.
Secretary
of State Colin Powell refers to "the three baskets" of U.S. policy — ONW
and Operation Southern Watch in the south, sanctions and regime change.
"We
… understand that the policy review is not confirmed, that some sections of it are
more mature than others," said Qua’bad Talabany, the PUK representative in
Washington.
"Sanctions
are the main issue now."
KDP is
talking to Bush policymakers, who, spokesman Dizayee said, are "committing to
protecting the general population, not individual parties or people. And that’s
probably as it should be."
THE OPERATION NORTHERN WATCH SERIES:
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