I don't think we should have done anything. But it's still going to add fuel to the fire

I'm sure Erdogan had secured the support of top generals in the hours before the coup started. Yes, this gives him an excuse to clamp down.

But how the devil would it be better for us to support a failing coup or worse yet intervene militarily like some of the anti Obama nut jobs seem to be hinting that we need to do?

I think he got wind of a real coup attempt and then decided to lure the real plotters out ... letting it get further than just arresting the leaders a few days before hand.

Obama didn't fuck this up the way Bush fucked up the Venezuela coup attempt a few years ago by declaring support for a coup that then failed, leading to neither democracy nor an improvement in relations with the local strongman. If our intelligence community had no wind of this then either it was a tiny coup attempt or we fucked up.

It would be interesting to see what the situation was like at Incirlik 12-24 hours before the coup started. I think the base itself would be safe but heading out? I don't know.

If you're going to kill the king make sure you kill him. Edogan's previous clampdown's are going to look like summer camp.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been following Twitter and haven't seen videos of helicopters shooting at protestors. The unofficial estimates of casualties were mostly when the parliament and HQ buildings were bombed. The military was intending not to attack citizens.

Also, reports that the military bombed the resort where Erdogan had been staying are as-of-yet unverified.

Just click on the links above. The three links posted by someone else are really graphic.

Report from Ankara: 42 dead overnight. Not clear if that's civilians, soldiers, police, or a combination.

CNN saying most were police.

More than 130 people were arrested in connection with the attempted coup in Turkey and 42 people, mostly civilians, were killed in clashes.

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will not be surprised if Erdogan somehow orchestrated the whole,thing to finally shut down secular voices. He will garner major support after the coup is quelled.

This is where I am.

I'm leaning towards he staged this as well as him being a sociopath & clinically insane.

So, how does this work. Erdogan rings up some of his buddies in the military and says, "hey, start a coup, but then makes sure it fails, and then I'll hang you". That seems a bit far-fetched to me.

He's crazy. It just seems too staged. The police were on his side from the beginning. I honestly cannot explain it, but something is rotten. He could have planted a bug with someone to start the coup & been in on it the whole time? Aware & expecting it to go down? One step ahead?

*thanks for the edit on the links.

He has been "cleaning out" the military for years, replacing high rankings generals with his supporters. He could have easily had one of his supporters incite
This coup.

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been following Twitter and haven't seen videos of helicopters shooting at protestors. The unofficial estimates of casualties were mostly when the parliament and HQ buildings were bombed. The military was intending not to attack citizens.

Also, reports that the military bombed the resort where Erdogan had been staying are as-of-yet unverified.

Just click on the links above. The three links posted by someone else are really graphic.

Report from Ankara: 42 dead overnight. Not clear if that's civilians, soldiers, police, or a combination.

CNN saying most were police.

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will not be surprised if Erdogan somehow orchestrated the whole,thing to finally shut down secular voices. He will garner major support after the coup is quelled.

This is where I am.

I'm leaning towards he staged this as well as him being a sociopath & clinically insane.

So, how does this work. Erdogan rings up some of his buddies in the military and says, "hey, start a coup, but then makes sure it fails, and then I'll hang you". That seems a bit far-fetched to me.

He's crazy. It just seems too staged. The police were on his side from the beginning. I honestly cannot explain it, but something is rotten. He could have planted a bug with someone to start the coup & been in on it the whole time? Aware & expecting it to go down? One step ahead?

*thanks for the edit on the links.

That's not surprising at all. If you are in a country with a history of military coups, you need a check on their power. So they have probably been making sure the police force was sympathetic to them since the day they got into office.

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been following Twitter and haven't seen videos of helicopters shooting at protestors. The unofficial estimates of casualties were mostly when the parliament and HQ buildings were bombed. The military was intending not to attack citizens.

Also, reports that the military bombed the resort where Erdogan had been staying are as-of-yet unverified.

Just click on the links above. The three links posted by someone else are really graphic.

Report from Ankara: 42 dead overnight. Not clear if that's civilians, soldiers, police, or a combination.

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will not be surprised if Erdogan somehow orchestrated the whole,thing to finally shut down secular voices. He will garner major support after the coup is quelled.

This is where I am.

I'm leaning towards he staged this as well as him being a sociopath & clinically insane.

So, how does this work. Erdogan rings up some of his buddies in the military and says, "hey, start a coup, but then makes sure it fails, and then I'll hang you". That seems a bit far-fetched to me.

He's crazy. It just seems too staged. The police were on his side from the beginning. I honestly cannot explain it, but something is rotten. He could have planted a bug with someone to start the coup & been in on it the whole time? Aware & expecting it to go down? One step ahead?

*thanks for the edit on the links.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will not be surprised if Erdogan somehow orchestrated the whole,thing to finally shut down secular voices. He will garner major support after the coup is quelled.

This is where I am.

I'm leaning towards he staged this as well as him being a sociopath & clinically insane.

So, how does this work. Erdogan rings up some of his buddies in the military and says, "hey, start a coup, but then makes sure it fails, and then I'll hang you". That seems a bit far-fetched to me.

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been following Twitter and haven't seen videos of helicopters shooting at protestors. The unofficial estimates of casualties were mostly when the parliament and HQ buildings were bombed. The military was intending not to attack citizens.

Also, reports that the military bombed the resort where Erdogan had been staying are as-of-yet unverified.

Just click on the links above. The three links posted by someone else are really graphic.

Sorry, I should have put a warning in there, they are very graphic. Feel free to delete or copy & paste back in with warning. I had a hard time watching.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will not be surprised if Erdogan somehow orchestrated the whole,thing to finally shut down secular voices. He will garner major support after the coup is quelled.

This is where I am.

I'm leaning towards he staged this as well as him being a sociopath & clinically insane.

Anonymous wrote:I've been following Twitter and haven't seen videos of helicopters shooting at protestors. The unofficial estimates of casualties were mostly when the parliament and HQ buildings were bombed. The military was intending not to attack citizens.

Also, reports that the military bombed the resort where Erdogan had been staying are as-of-yet unverified.

Just click on the links above. The three links posted by someone else are really graphic.

I've been following Twitter and haven't seen videos of helicopters shooting at protestors. The unofficial estimates of casualties were mostly when the parliament and HQ buildings were bombed. The military was intending not to attack citizens.

Also, reports that the military bombed the resort where Erdogan had been staying are as-of-yet unverified.