U.S. Envoy Presses Iraq to Act Against Guerrillas

By James Glanz and Andrew Kramer

October 26, 2007

BAGHDAD, Oct. 25 — Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker said Thursday that Iraq should disrupt supply lines and develop a “lookout list” of senior leaders for the Kurdish guerrillas who use the northern Iraqi mountains as a safe haven for attacks inside Turkey .

But Mr. Crocker, the American ambassador here, stopped short of supporting Turkish demands that Iraq take military action against the guerrilla group, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, known as the P.K.K., or extradite its leaders to Turkey . The Turkish government has repeatedly threatened to make incursions into Iraq to strike at the fighters.

Any Iraqi military expedition, Mr. Crocker said, would run into the geographic fact that the northern mountains, called the Qandeel range, are remote and inaccessible. “I don’t think it’s realistic to expect that the Iraqis are going to march up that mountain and take on the P.K.K. and arrest their leaders,” Mr. Crocker said. “This is in the hard-to-do category.” Full Text