Headline reads: Turkey launches ground operation in Iraq

"STANBUL, Turkey - Turkish troops launched a ground incursion across the border into Iraq in pursuit of separatist Kurdish rebels, the military said Friday — a move that dramatically escalates Turkey's conflict with the militants.

It is the first confirmed ground operation by the Turkish military into Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. It also raised concerns that it could trigger a wider conflict with the U.S.-backed Iraqi Kurds, despite Turkey's assurances that its only target was the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK."

This is not good news, as the potential for a wider conflict with Nato ally Turkey and with Iraq, both allies of the U.S., grows with each escalation. Turkey recently has been tilting to their Islamic groups which has troubled the secular leadership of the country. Turkey's ruling government party removed a ban for the head scarfs worn by women in Schools and Universities. The U.S. and its Allies have been looking to admit Turkey into their economic block with benefits. This incursion could harm the outlook for that to happen thus alienating Turkey against the U.S. even more than it has in recent years. Turkey has been a good Ally of the U.S. going back decades. It has been the Bush Administration that has most set back this relationship for possibly decades to come.

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