After I read the Wall Street Journal article yesterday, I was initially suspicious of the leak, presuming that it gave an advantage to the parliamentary commission which investigated the Uludere airstrike. "Erdogan was angry @ the commission he formed, 'cause either Army or Government failed in #Uludere, but Commission was afraid 2 blame either. Now they can make a happy scapegoat out of the U.S. administration. It seems it is risk-free for both sides. It will clear the Uludere," I had tweeted.
At first glance, time refuted me quickly, as the leak heightened the tension, instead of defusing the situation. Now the Turkish army is in a harder position, as it sticked to its own version of the story which emphasized that Uludere intelligence was gathered by drones owned by Turkey. "The WSJ story is fraudulent," Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan has told today. President Abdullah Gül also supported the Turkish version, reiterated that "we should all rely on our own, national sources."
But why does Pentagon leak such information now, whether it is accurate or not, if the aim is not to help the Turkish government as an ally? A CNN analysis has a hint: "The airstrike also raises questions on how U.S. partners use information given to them by U.S. drones."
I learned from Washington sources today that the U.S. officials which WSJ refered may not be representing the whole U.S. administration. The true intention of the leak may be to force the U.S. administration to stop exporting drones to other countries. Hindering the cooperation between Ankara and Washington against PKK terrorism may indeed be another aim.
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