By which, I do not mean to give menu advice. With much of our focus riveted, as it should be, on the role that Syria and Iran play in fomenting terrorism and unrest in neighboring Iraq, we should not overlook the role that Turkey plays in calculations about the coalition’s Iraq policy, both inside and outside the country. Turkey was, after all, the imperial power in Mesopotamia for centuries before the creation of modern Iraq. It is greatly interested in the power and autonomy of the Iraqi Kurds, for obvious reasons, as well as who controls the oil resources in northern Iraq, again for obvious reasons.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said in a speech yesterday at the Woodrow Wilson Center (irony alert) that the continued presence of American troops in Iraq was needed as a deterrent to Turkish military incursions. He said that maintaining the status quo would serve to “calm Turkey down” while giving Kurdish authorities the space to deal with potential incursions into Turkey by the Kurdistan Worker’s Party. He also included Turkey in his indictment of “meddling” by Iraq’s neighbors in its internal affairs.

The Turks are watching carefully.