Nabi Sensoy, Turkey's ambassador to Washington, is complaining that Kurdish guerillas staging cross-border attacks into Turkey from Northern Iraq are armed with American weapons that were supplied to the Iraqi army. Sensoy also accused the U.S. of not applying enough pressure on Kurds in the Iraqi government to rein in the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been fighting for an independent Kurdistan since the 1980s.

Turkish officials are promising retaliatory military strikes against the PKK in Iraq, which will further destabilize the country. Turkey's military chief, Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, is prodding the government to set political guidelines for an incursion into northern Iraq, if the U.S. and the Iraqi governments cannot stop the cross-border attacks.

Last week, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul confirmed that detailed plans for an incursion into Northern Iraq were in place, and an anonymous senior U.S. diplomatic official tells The Associated Press that military action against PKK rebels in northern Iraq in the days before the July 22 elections in is very high.

Officials with the Pentagon and the State Department said such an incursion would not be "helpful."

U.S. Brig. Gen. Perry Wiggins, deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also points out that we can do only so much, seeing as "our military's focus is on Iraq and the situation in Iraq." In other words, there is no strategic military gain to be made from diverting our soldiers to the relatively calm region of Northern Iraq from Baghdad and other areas that are hotbeds of insurgent activity and sectarian violence.

And, with all due respect to Turkey’s importance as an ally in the War on Terror – an unreliable ally, it should be noted, as its government has repeatedly threatened to cut off access to Incirlik Air Base if Congress adopts H.Res. 106/S.Res. 106 ("the Armenian Genocide Resolution") – there is little political gain to pissing off our Kurdish allies in the Iraqi government by going after the PKK.

[Editorial Note: Instead of griping about U.S. inaction against PKK rebels in Iraq, Turkey's ambassador might explain why two Turks, Mehmet Yilmaz and Mehmet Resit Isik, were funneling foreign insurgents into Iraq for al-Qaida operations – until they were killed by coalition forces in late June.]

That Dog Won’t Vote

King County Elections Director Sherril Huff has removed Duncan M. MacDonald, from the voter rolls in WA state. No, he is not a felon or been declared "non compos mentis" (second item). He is a Canine American.

Jane Balogh, 66, had registered her dog to vote in April 2006 to protest a state voter-registration law passed the previous year that she contends makes it too easy for noncitizens to vote because the ID requirements are extremely lax.

How lax are they?

They are so lax that Balogh put her phone bill in Duncan's name, then used it as ID to register him as a new voter.

How lax are they?

They are so lax that Balogh returned mail ballots in two elections with paw prints on the signature line (she wrote "void" on the ballots to ensure they wouldn’t be counted).

How lax are they?

They are so lax that even "[a]fter telling an election worker last November that Duncan is a dog … he received a ballot for a Federal Way school bond vote in May," reports The Seattle Times.

Balogh has pleaded not guilty to a gross misdemeanor charge of making a false statement to a public official by signing a declaration in Duncan's name saying he was over 18 and a U.S. citizen. If convicted, she can be imprisoned for up to 90 days and fined $1,000.

Her attorney, Kristen Anderson, said Balogh was not going to contest the charge, but changed her mind when election officials took the position that "her case showed the system worked," according to The Associated Press.

Balogh is not barking up the wrong tree with her concerns about illegal aliens voting in WA elections.

Posting on Sound Politics, a blog that provides "Sound Commentary on Current Events in Seattle, Puget Sound and Washington State," Stefan Sharkansky writes:

Every vote that is fraudulent nullifies a vote that is lawful. And in closely decided elections, suspicions of voter fraud fuel conspiracy theories, undermine the legitimacy of the declared winner and poison the political atmosphere in which elected officials have to do their jobs.

America’s Heroes Have A New Online Gathering Spot

Paralyzed Veterans of America has launched an online community "for America's heroes - veterans, active service members, family and friends - to share their experiences and accomplishments." Paralyzed Veterans of America is a nonprofit congressionally chartered veterans' service organization founded in 1946 to improve quality of life for veterans with spinal cord injury or disease, as well as all veterans and people with disabilities by providing such services as vocational employment services, disabled veterans' advocacy, health and benefits counseling, medical research and wheelchair sports.