George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 311

George Bush’s Great America – Episode 310

< Episode 310 >

“‘They’re pushing ahead recklessly.’ That’s the media’s opinion. But public opinion alone is more enthusiastically supportive than ever before.”

“What about Turkey?”

“They don’t seem willing to cooperate unless it’s a really good deal. Which is to be expected, of course.”

Turkey reluctantly cooperated with the EU’s proposal for Kurdish independence because of its overriding goal of joining the EU, a national priority. Conversely, now that this has fallen through, Turkey has no reason to cooperate at all.

On the other hand, if the U.S. offers a tempting enough carrot, Turkey is more than willing to cooperate. Think about it. Who would want to endure a war within their own country? Of course, there are those who might want that, but certainly not the politicians.

If the Kurds were an easy target to crush, they would have been crushed long ago. There aren’t just one or two Kurds; there are an estimated 20 million, and they actively participate in political activities. The PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party), one of the illegal armed groups in Turkey, is also a major headache for the Turkish government.

If they could be expelled for a reasonable price, they would have been expelled long ago. Besides, it’s not like 20 million people would move all at once. People are more resistant to change than you think, so those who are going to stay will stay anyway.

In any case, all the bad things can be passed on to the newly formed Kurdish state. Moreover, if the Kurds continue to behave in Turkey as they do now after independence, they can be crushed even more forcefully. The justification is on Turkey’s side, so they can be completely regarded as terrorist organizations.

If they are dissatisfied with Turkey, shouldn’t they go to the Kurdish state? If not, the Turks should either prepare to accept the label of ‘Mountain Turks’.

“So, it doesn’t seem like you really want a war. Could you share some of that insight with me?”

“Insight, huh? Well, half of it is just out of frustration. Do you know that frustrating feeling of having to watch something and thinking, ‘I could do better’?”

“I feel it often. Mostly when I’m looking at reports.”

“We should have intervened from the start.”

“What about the other half?”

Bush sorted through a few necessary reports while talking, then opened his mouth.

“Do you think Kurdish independence will succeed?”

“So far, nothing our administration has set its mind to has failed.”

To be precise, it was more accurate to say that nothing the ‘President’ had set his mind to had failed, but wasn’t that the same thing?

“But it will fail. Spectacularly. As the Secretary of Defense said, trying to force it without negotiation will lead to war. Even a mere earthworm wriggles when stepped on, so wouldn’t a nation wage war?”

“Is that the half? The certainty of failure? That’s quite unexpected. So, are we just wasting money in the Middle East for nothing?”

“Of course not. If such a proposal had come up from below, I would have rejected it without hesitation.”

In fact, a lot of such proposals had come up. Especially the proposals written by the Vice President were the most noticeable. He even suggested planting nuclear weapons in Afghanistan to take advantage of this opportunity. That was just an absurd suggestion.

“So, Mr. President, you’ve found a way to benefit from this series of actions and prevent war?”

“That’s right. It’s a gamble. A gamble with a very slim chance of winning. But we won’t lose any money. Even if we do, it’ll just be the cost of fuel for the carrier strike group being deployed. We can afford that much.”

“What about national credibility?”

“As you know, those with power can force trust upon those without it.”

In short, it was ‘Don’t you trust me?’ This was a method mainly used by the British Empire in the 19th century. Of course, that British Empire had never kept a single promise to weaker nations. Of course, even with great power now, losing in the court of public opinion means losing everything.

‘Just like the Vietnam War.’

“Tell this to Turkey.”

***

“…The U.S. is going to mediate?”

Turkey was soon to transition from a parliamentary system to a presidential system due to the dictatorial ambitions of the current Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, but at least for now, the Prime Minister was still leading the administration. But since the person in charge wasn’t changing, it was all the same.

Anyway, hearing about the dispatch of U.S. troops and the deployment of carrier strike groups was driving him crazy. Seeing how they were coddling the Kurds, it seemed like those Kurds had given the U.S. and the EU a lot of gold, like the Israelis.

However, no matter how much he looked, he couldn’t find any evidence that the Kurds had lobbied. It wasn’t that he couldn’t find even a speck of dust, but dust is just dust. It falls off when you brush it off with your hand.

In any case, he couldn’t find any large and consistent lobbying efforts that would warrant granting a country independence.

“Tell them not to be ridiculous.”

“They’ve presented a few conditions.”

“Oh? Let’s hear them.”

“They’ll resolve the EU membership issue.”

“That’s a bit tempting. But it’s not a condition I can confidently discuss in the National Assembly, is it?”

“It says that not having a war is a benefit in itself, but…”

“With U.S. troops stationed there? That’s ridiculous. A much bigger war will break out, one that can’t even be compared to the war that would have happened otherwise. As the situation is, western Iraq will remain silent, but others will react sensitively. Especially Iran and eastern Iraq will be overjoyed.”

In Iran, discontent had been accumulating in secret. They had already made concessions under pressure from the EU, and now they were facing an armed uprising by the Kurds. If a country had a body, it would be developing tumors everywhere.

Iran had been patient enough and was fully prepared to suppress the Kurdish uprising if it occurred.

“And… that’s it. Yes, there’s nothing else.”

Hearing that, the Prime Minister was bewildered. Something was wrong. It couldn’t be just that. It wasn’t just that there had never been a case where only that was written on an official document, but it didn’t make sense.

“That’s it? Nothing else?”

“Yes, that’s it.”

‘Then that’s a different story.’

This was a notice. It wasn’t about setting conditions and asking for understanding in return; it was unilaterally forcing one side’s will.

‘A misunderstanding…’

He snatched the diplomatic document from the translator’s hand. He wondered if it had been abbreviated for convenience during translation, but it wasn’t. There were really only three lines.

The U.S. will mediate the Kurdish issue through the temporary stationing of U.S. troops in Turkey.

The EU membership issue will be resolved.

The offer is valid until 12 hours from now.

‘I don’t think so.’

It was really simple and concise. He had only received such a document once before.

‘During 9/11, wasn’t it?’

“Did the Kurds offend the U.S.?”

The Prime Minister was almost certain. The problem was that he had a suspicion, but no evidence. Strictly speaking, this document could be evidence, but it was just the beginning of creating a suspicion.

If he didn’t have evidence, he had to secure a proper suspicion.

“…What if we refuse?”

“I, well, I don’t know.”

‘What happens if we refuse?’

Conversely, wasn’t this a kind of trick created for the purpose of refusing? Hadn’t the U.S. already invaded under the guise of supporting criminal regimes or eliminating terrorists? Could Turkey be facing the same fate?

Of course, that really couldn’t be the case. Attacking Turkey would be a foolish act. It would make more sense to attack eastern Iraq, which was increasingly emerging as the root of all evil in the modern era. Attacking Turkey?

He knew it wasn’t true with his reason. But what would happen after those 12 hours passed? What kind of statement should he make? Should he condemn the arrogance of the U.S.? Or should he bury it here?

“Damn it, I have to try to take a conciliatory approach as much as possible.”

He had no choice but to limit the number as much as possible and induce them to install it in the areas that should have been handed over to the Kurds. In fact, there was nothing to induce. It was certain that they would install it in the far east of eastern Turkey.

If so, he had to reduce the scale somehow. If not, he had to make them feel burdened by sending even more troops.

“Yes?”

“It’s nothing. You can leave.”

“But, there are other countries’ official documents left to read…”

“Leave! Now! Just translate those trivial documents one by one and bring them to me!”

The translator suppressed a shrill scream with his hand as he ran out of the office at the Prime Minister’s angry voice.

“Damn it!”

It was truly humiliating. No matter what, what was the problem that they were trying to beat him up so unilaterally?

‘More than that, what is their purpose?’

At first glance, it would naturally be ‘Kurdish independence.’ But no matter how he thought about it, the U.S. had no reason to coddle the Kurds, even if the EU did. Maybe they wanted to project power into the Middle East and plan for the future, using the Kurds as an excuse.

Like Afghanistan, a card to be used later in the Middle East. The U.S. President the Prime Minister knew was a man who planned for half a century ahead, rather than just what was right in front of him. It was too obvious if you checked where the money brought in from China was used.

Most of it was used to generously fill the Federal Reserve’s gold vault, which had discrepancies on the catalog, and the rest was used for U.S. infrastructure replacement and defense spending.

So, he must have approached it from a similar perspective this time.

‘Or were they afraid of the Kurds’ uprising?’

Certainly, if the Kurds revolted, the Middle East would turn into a complete mess. In the process, the U.S. would also suffer some losses.

‘If we limit it to three years and only allow it to be used temporarily, we can minimize the impact.’

When he cut out all the other miscellaneous branches and thought about it, it wasn’t a bad thing. If a war broke out due to the Kurdish uprising, the U.S. troops stationed there would be a reliable shield.

“They’re volunteering to get covered in shit, so there’s no reason to refuse.”

The Prime Minister thought a lot after that, but the conciliatory approach he had initially come up with did not change. The Prime Minister finished the meeting with the lawmakers, and the answer came back 5 hours later.