Turkey's Refusal Stuns US
'US officials appeared stunned by the Turkish parliament's refusal Saturday to allow the deployment of 62 000 US troops for a possible war with Iraq. The officials, who had been prepared to hail the parliament's approval of the deployment based on initial reports that the vote had succeeded, expressed consternation when told that it had in fact been defeated. "They did what?" blurted one State Department official.

'The speaker of the Turkish parliament, Bulent Arinc, said the motion to allow the deployment had failed because it had not received the necessary majority of MPs present in the chamber. Of the 533 MPs present for the vote, 264 supported the motion, 250 voted against it and 19 abstained, Arinc announced.'

This appears to be yet another stunning setback for American war plans. Who would have predicted it? Certainly not Powell or the State Department. The diplomatic train wreck grinds forward. One of these days Dubya is going to get angry and if Powell disappears we'll know he's in Guantanamo bay.

Turkey's Refusal Stuns US
'US officials appeared stunned by the Turkish parliament's refusal Saturday to allow the deployment of 62 000 US troops for a possible war with Iraq. The officials, who had been prepared to hail the parliament's approval of the deployment based on initial reports that the vote had succeeded, expressed consternation when told that it had in fact been defeated. "They did what?" blurted one State Department official.

'The speaker of the Turkish parliament, Bulent Arinc, said the motion to allow the deployment had failed because it had not received the necessary majority of MPs present in the chamber. Of the 533 MPs present for the vote, 264 supported the motion, 250 voted against it and 19 abstained, Arinc announced.'

This appears to be yet another stunning setback for American war plans. Who would have predicted it? Certainly not Powell or the State Department. The diplomatic train wreck grinds forward. One of these days Dubya is going to get angry and if Powell disappears we'll know he's in Guantanamo bay.