In 2003, the US invaded Iraq. Turkey denied the transit of the US 4th ID to attack from the north.
While opposed to that war, I was at the time angered by this, and remember a friend (who just out of the military at the time) saying something like:
Thank you Turkey, for your outstanding support during the war. I fully understand that you did not support our attack, and that nothing in the NATO agreements said you should. I get that. However, I do hope that you understand we will be endevouring to make use of the local conditions as we can. For example, the one group in Iraq that truly supports us is the Kurds. Can you say 'Independent Kurdistan'? I can. Can you say 'Independent Kurdistan armed with M1 tanks and Apache attack helicopters backed by US SAM systems?' I can. The fact that such a polity would destabalize Iran is just kind of...gravy.
So, WI? What if the US supported an independent Kurdistan, and then armed it? What happens?
Mike Turcotte