Turkish police foil NATO bomb plot - TV

[Kellanved]

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish police have foiled a bomb plot targeting a NATO summit in Istanbul on June 28-29 which will be attended by U.S. President George W. Bush and other Western leaders, CNN Turk has reported.

Police arrested 16 people belonging to a militant Islamist group called Ansar al-Islam.
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http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=503358§ion=news

[thebigidea]

1. they might want to wait until the summit before declaring it foiled, huh?

[AnnitaR]

2. If I were ole Georgie I'd be keeping my ass in the US!

He's got one giant target one his back (one that he has earned, of course)!

Have to wonder if Cheney just loves it every time Georgie goes traveling... think he would enjoy having the title. He already runs the show but I think he'd like the title now too.

[punpirate]

3. Ansar al-Islam?

A small near-amateur Islamic fundamentalist group holed up in the far eastern part of Kurdistan which was heavily bombed shortly before the beginning of the Iraq invasion, and which the US has repeatedly said is run by a fellow by the name of Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi. The US has also, in recent months, asserted that Zarqawi (the one-legged man who may or may not be one-legged) is a top lieutenant of bin Laden, when he is well-known as operating as an independent on behalf of Jordanian Palestinians.

There is in this the distinct odor of continuing neo-conservative attempts to link Iraq with al-Qaeda. What the Turks gain from this isn't clear. Perhaps the moderates in the Turkish government want to show the US they're helping, without committing more troops.

Curiouser and curiouser.

[Devils Advocate NZ]

4. The Turks get to prove that the Kurds are terrorists...

and thus justify their repression of Kurds.