U.S. may tweak aid package for Turkey

But he added: "There may be some other creative things we can do." So far Turkey has balked at the offer, demanding up to $32 billion in aid, including up to $10 billion in grants and more leeway to decide how the money is spent. Beyond the military advantages of mounting an attack from Turkish soil, Ankara’s active support in the campaign against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would give Washington the comfort of a Muslim ally in a war many in the region deride as an anti-Islam crusade.
The bulk of U.S. forces being sent to the region are being gathered in the Persian Gulf, signaling the main brunt of an attack would come from the south. But opening a second northern front could shorten the war, U.S. planners believe.
Raising the stakes in negotiations with Washington, Turkey wants written guarantees of aid and Turkish military access to northern Iraq, where leaders of the Kurdish ethnic group have set up a virtual state under the protection of U.S. and British air patrols. Turkey has sought for years to suppress any sign of Kurdish nationalism within its own borders.
Turkey worries that its economy will suffer from a war in neighboring Iraq. The military wants to send troops into the Kurdish enclave ostensibly to stem a refugee flow, but also to block any Kurdish drive for independence that could inspire Turkey’s own Kurdish minority to revive demands for autonomy. Washington, growing frustrated as the clock ticks toward possible military action, has pushed for a rapid Turkish decision and said it would deploy its troops elsewhere in the region if there was no deal by the end of the week. "This is not a bluff. … The United States is preparing for war in case a decision is made to go to war," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.