TURKISH U.S. RIFT

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Tropical depression forms in Atlantic OCT 11,07

MIAMI - The 15th tropical depression of the Atlantic hurricane season formed Thursday in the open ocean, forecasters said. At 11 p.m., the storm was about 905 miles east of Bermuda, according to the National Hurricane Center. It was moving east at near 9 mph. Maximum sustained winds were near 35 mph.It was not expected to increase much in strength or speed over the next 24 hours, forecasters said.

US says illegal weapons exports growing By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer OCT 11,07

WASHINGTON - Missile technology, fighter jet parts, night vision goggles and other U.S. wartime equipment increasingly are being illegally smuggled to potential adversaries, such as China and Iran, the federal government said Thursday. Last week, two Utah men were arrested for allegedly trying to sell parts over the Internet for F-4 and F-14 fighter jets — which are only flown by Iran. The week before, two engineers were indicted in San Jose, Calif., on charges of stealing computer chip designs intended for the Chinese military.Government lawyers and investigators Thursday described a growing number of unauthorized exports that could be dangerous if the parts and supplies end up in the hands of terrorists or hostile nations.The concept of terrorists, criminals or rogue nations obtaining weapons and other restricted technology is chilling, said Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Julie Myers, who oversees illegal export investigations as head of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Assistant Attorney General Ken Wainstein called new government efforts to crack down on illegal exports the Justice Department's top counterintelligence priority.A Pentagon report noted a 43 percent increase in 2005 in what it described as suspicious foreign contacts with U.S-based defense companies. Another report last year by U.S. intelligence officials found that a record 108 nations were trying to buy or otherwise obtain U.S. technology that is restricted for sale. It did not list which nations or specify whether some of them were U.S. allies.Night vision goggles, body armor and equipment used in improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, have been in particular demand since the 2001 terror attacks that prompted the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, officials said. But some prosecutors have been reluctant to pursue the smugglers because illegal export cases can be very complicated and time-consuming to chase.These are incredibly complicated cases, Wainstein said, adding that training and assistance will be given to prosecutors and investigators working on a new task force under the departments of State, Justice, Homeland Security, Defense, Commerce and the FBI. The task force largely will focus on U.S.-based exporters who sell or ship equipment overseas without proper authorization.

Other recent smuggling cases of concern to national security officials include:An Indonesian man was indicted in Madison, Wis., Thursday on charges of conspiring to export rifle scopes to Indonesia.Pittsburgh company SparesGlobal, Inc., was sentenced last week for lying about exporting equipment used in nuclear reactors and ballistic missiles in 2003 that ended up in Pakistan.
A man in California pleaded guilty in August to trying to smuggle 100,000 Uzi submachine guns and night vision goggles to Iranian government officials.Two men pleaded guilty in California on the same day, Aug. 1, to exporting military-use technology to China, including, in one case, computer code to help train fighter pilots.

7YR TREATY BY PROOF

GENESIS 2:2-3 GOD RESTED THE 7TH DAY
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

LEVITICUS 25:1-9 THE 7 YEAR SABBATICAL
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the LORD.
3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;
4 But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
5 That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.
6 And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee,
7 And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.
8 And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.

God has always dealt with Israel in 7's, it just makes sense the last dealing with Israel and the World will be a 7 yr treaty. God rested from creation on the 7TH DAY. Every 7TH YEAR Israel is suppose to rest the land. And the 7X7=49 YRS and the jubilee is the 50TH YEAR.

Now the scriptures that a week in Israel history is 7YEARS.

Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.

Isn"t this interesting it comes from the same Person whos name was changed to Israel,(JACOB) and Israel and Jerusalem is the places dealt with in Daniel 9:24-27.

GENESIS 32:27-28
27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

1 CHRONICLES 17:6-14
6 Wheresoever I have walked with all Israel, spake I a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, Why have ye not built me an house of cedars?
7 Now therefore thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, even from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be ruler over my people Israel:
8 And I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast walked, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee, and have made thee a name like the name of the great men that are in the earth.
9 Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning,
10 And since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. Moreover I will subdue all thine enemies. Furthermore I tell thee that the LORD will build thee an house.
11 And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom.
12 He shall build me an house, and I will stablish his throne for ever.
13 I will be his father, and he shall be my son: and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee:
14 But I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever: and his throne shall be established for evermore.

Syria unlikely to join peace conference By SAMAR KASSABLI, Associated Press Writer OCT 11,07

DAMASCUS, Syria - Syrian President Bashar Assad all but ruled out his country's participation in a U.S.-sponsored international peace conference on the Middle East, suggesting in an interview published Thursday that the meeting has no chance for success. His comments come amid growing skepticism of the conference among some Arab governments, which have expressed doubts the planned gathering in November will tackle the main issues of the conflict with Israel.Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have not said whether they will attend.Syria has not received an invitation to the conference, and even if it did, it will not take part in a conference that lacks the chances of success, Assad said in an interview with two Tunisian newspapers.The Bush administration has said it will invite adversary Syria to the conference. But Assad had said earlier that his country would not attend the meeting if it did not address Israel's occupation of the Golan Heights, which it captured from Syria during the 1967 Mideast war.In Thursday's interview with the Ach-Chourouk and Le Quotidien newspapers, Assad said the conference should have serious and clear goals and should include all peace tracks including the Golan issue.

The United States has kept quiet on the most basic details about the meeting, including precise dates, the guest list and the location — though it is expected to be in Annapolis, Maryland.
Arab League chief Amr Moussa warned of a likely failure of the conference during an international economic forum Wednesday night in Cairo. He said the United States was only hoping for a photo-op between Saudi and Israeli officials rather than real progress.In the Saudi capital Riyadh, the head of the six-country Gulf Cooperation Council Abdul-Rahman Attiyah called Thursday for joint Arab-Palestinian action to set the conditions for the success the conference. He also expressed skepticism that the meeting would be successful because Israel does not want peace.Assad also referred to a reported Israel jet raid on a target in northeastern Syria on Sept. 6. Syria has described the site as an unused military building. Israeli officials have maintained an unprecedented wall of silence over the affair, though there have been reports — denied by Syria — that the target was a nascent nuclear facility being built with North Korean help.Assad, in the interview, said Israel's silence reflected the failure of Israeli or U.S. intelligence.They are trying to cover up their failure by shrouding it with mystery, he said.

Accord needed before Mideast conference By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer Thu Oct 11, 6:50 PM ET

JERUSALEM - President Bush should not convene his planned Mideast peace conference next month if Israel and the Palestinians have not achieved an agreement in advance, a Palestinian negotiator said Thursday. Israel has been pressing for a vaguely worded document that would gloss over the toughest issues still outstanding — borders, Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees. Palestinians prefer a detailed preliminary agreement with a timetable for creating a Palestinian state, though it is not clear if they would refuse to agree to less.Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said in an interview with Israel's Channel 10 TV, that when then-President Bill Clinton convened an Israeli-Palestinian summit in July 2000, it broke up without agreement and violence erupted three months later. Lack of proper preparation for the summit is often blamed.Do you think President Bush will do what President Clinton did? Erekat said. I really doubt the Americans will issue the invitation if decisions are not made by (Palestinian) President (Mahmoud) Abbas and (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert.

The conference is tentatively set for Annapolis, Maryland, at the end of November, but Erekat noted that no invitations have been sent.He said the Israeli-Palestinian agreement before the conference could be two-three pages. Olmert and Abbas have met six times in recent weeks to discuss the issues. Erekat said they have come to some agreements, but he would not elaborate.Erekat, a member of the five-person Palestinian team negotiating with Israel over the document, said overall agreement is near. I don't think we need negotiations anymore, he said. Negotiations are over. It's time for decisions. We have never been closer to achieving the end game than we are now.He said peace is vital for the Palestinians. I don't want my son to be a suicide bomber, he said.Erekat dismissed the notion that neither Olmert nor Abbas is strong enough politically to make the concessions necessary for an agreement or get the backing of their people.If Mr. Olmert and Mr. Abbas reach the agreement on the end game, they'll be the most important persons in this holy land since Jesus walked the streets of Jerusalem, he said. Erekat said a peace accord would be put before the Palestinian people in a referendum.He discounted the ability of the militant Islamic Hamas to sabotage such an accord. He acknowledged that Abbas' Fatah is not strong enough to retake Gaza by force after the Hamas takeover in June, but once you produce an end game agreement, Hamas is down without firing a shot.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday that she asked the Israeli ambassador for clarifications about an Israeli plan to build a road near Jerusalem, partly on confiscated Palestinian land. Palestinians charge the construction will cut them off from Jerusalem.

Rice told reporters on the way to Moscow that she had not received a reply. Rice is due in Israel and the Palestinian areas over the weekend.Also Thursday, a top architect of Israeli military policy in the Gaza Strip was quoted as saying that the army will have to conduct a lengthy ground operation to halt rocket fire, the clearest sign yet that Israel is preparing an offensive against Hamas.In an interview with the Yediot Ahronot daily, Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky said a Gaza operation appears inevitable.We cannot over time stand idly by as Hamas rearms in the strip and as the rocket fire continues incessantly, Kaplinsky, who stepped down this month as the army's deputy chief of staff, told the newspaper. In order to dismantle the terror infrastructure, systematic treatment is necessary. A ground operation is a question of timing.He did not elaborate.Since Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip two years ago, the rocket fire has persisted, despite frequent Israeli airstrikes and incursions targeting rocket squads. Thousands of the crude rockets have landed in southern Israel, killing 12 people over the past seven years and disrupting the lives of thousands of residents. In violence Thursday, Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian policeman who was driving with a wanted militant in his car, Palestinian officials said. They said the shooting took place after a brief chase.
The undercover soldiers dressed in civilian clothes shot the policeman, but the Islamic Jihad militant in the car with him escaped unharmed, they said. The army said troops shot a man who drew a pistol when they approached.

Rice seeks Israeli clarification on land grab Thu Oct 11, 5:40 PM ET

SHANNON, Ireland (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday she had requested clarification from Israel over its decision to confiscate Arab land near Jerusalem. I called their ambassador to the US yesterday and asked for clarification. I am waiting for one, Rice told reporters on her plane prior to making a stopover in Shannon, Ireland, en route to Moscow.Israel on Tuesday ordered the confiscation of Arab land outside east Jerusalem, officials said, reviving fears that the occupied West Bank could be split in two and challenging peace overtures.The appropriation orders came as Israelis and Palestinians prepare for a major US-sponsored international peace summit widely expected in Maryland next month, and were immediately criticized by Arab authorities.Until now, the United States has refused to comment on the Israeli move, with State Department spokesman Sean McCormack saying that he wanted to understand better the facts on the ground.
Washington's silence contrasted with the reaction of France, Egypt and Jordan, all of which swiftly denounced the land grab.

The situation is likely to complicate matters for Rice when she travels to the Middle East on Sunday following a two-day visit in Russia. The trip had been aimed at laying some of the groundwork for the peace summit.Her five-day stint in the region is scheduled to take her to Ramallah and Jerusalem, as well as short trips to Amman and Egypt, and is expected to include talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.

US quiet on pending Middle East meeting By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer Thu Oct 11, 4:13 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Just weeks before a peace conference marking President Bush's most direct intervention in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, U.S. officials are trying to say as little as possible about what is on the table. The November session will be a serious run at problems that have proved insoluble in the past, U.S. officials say, yet Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and others have avoided talking specifics or using the lexicon of past, failed peace talks.Rice calls the U.S.-sponsored session an international meeting, instead of the loftier summit or conference, as a way to keep expectations low. She talks about establishing a Palestinian state, the practical goal of peace talks, but almost never uses the word peace.The United States is still mum on the most basic details about the meeting, including precise dates, location — it's expected to be in Annapolis, Md. — and the guest list. Rice will be on the spot to fill in the blanks during a preparatory trip to the Middle East that begins Sunday.The intentional understatement masks the high stakes for a conference that could christen a historic agreement on some of the most difficult issues in the six-decade conflict, and the political and diplomatic risk Bush is taking late in his presidency.

Former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, a Rice mentor, and other well-known Washington advisers warned Bush and Rice in a letter Wednesday that the session must tackle the substance of a permanent peace.Arab states say they welcome Bush's engagement but are wary of being mere window-dressing for a too-little, too-late attempt to revive peace talks after a seven-year freeze.The Bush administration's closest friends in the Arab world have said they want no part of a feel-good session, or have put conditions on their participation.We haven't issued any invitations yet, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said this week, cautioning there will be posturing on all sides ahead of the meeting. We're going to focus on making this meeting the most efficient and effective use of all the participants' time to try to move the process forward.U.S. officials say they are encouraged by meaty discussions between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and new negotiating teams named this week. Those talks have not derailed despite political opposition and uncertainty on both sides.The best-case scenario has Olmert and Abbas fashioning a fairly detailed framework for an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.That document would be ready ahead of the November meeting. Arab neighbors, including some that do not recognize Israel, would then sign off on the plan during the conference. More formal peace talks to finish the details would follow, a process that would probably take months if not years.We've done a lot of dialogue between the two men, and they are making progress, Bush told an interviewer from the Arabic-language television news channel Al Arabiya last week.

The two leaders' work means the average Palestinian and average Israeli will begin to see what a vision looks like, Bush said. In other words, something to work for; something that's more tangible than just a Rose Garden speech by the president or hopeful comments by others — something real.Abbas on Wednesday laid out his most specific demands for the borders of a future independent state, calling for a full Israeli withdrawal from all territories captured in the 1967 Mideast war.With Israel seeking to retain parts of the West Bank and east Jerusalem, Abbas' comments appeared to set the stage for tough negotiations, which are expected to include complicated arrangements such as land swaps and shared control over holy sites.Olmert told his parliament Monday he won't be deterred from seeking a peace deal despite the need for painful concessions, warning that failure would mean a demographic struggle steeped in blood and tears.Olmert's closest political ally, Vice Premier Haim Ramon, spoke publicly about a future division of Jerusalem — long taboo in Israeli politics.

The future of Jerusalem is one of the three core problems that have shipwrecked past negotiations. The others are the borders of an eventual Palestinian state and the rights of Palestinians and their descendants who left homes in what is now Israel. Rice has said that the United States isn't ignoring those issues, but she says there are other practical questions to consider. The conference's success will be judged largely on whether regional power-broker Saudi Arabia attends and throws support to future peace talks, and on whether both sides and their U.S. host squarely address those three potential deal-breaking issues.

Whatever the outcome, merely holding the session marks a turning point for Bush and advisers who had steered clear of active Mideast peacemaking for most of Bush's tenure. That changed this year, largely at the urging of Arab allies Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan. Rice and her aides say they see an opportunity now that did not exist a few years ago. The administration is gambling that it can capitalize on a bitter internal Palestinian split, strengthening the moderate Abbas at the expense of his militant Hamas rivals, and challenge Arab states to come off the sidelines to endorse a deal they say they want. The administration has said it will invite adversary Syria to the conference, but plans no olive branch to Hamas. The Scowcroft letter urged eventual engagement with Hamas, perhaps through intermediaries, to lessen its power as a spoiler for any deal that Abbas might reach.

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

NOTICE IN VERSE 38:6 TURKEY IS AGAINST THE WEST.

Turkey threatens repercussions for U.S. By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press Writer OCT 11,07

ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey, which is a key supply route to U.S. troops in Iraq, recalled its ambassador to Washington on Thursday and warned of serious repercussions if Congress labels the killing of Armenians by Turks a century ago as genocide. Ordered after a House committee endorsed the genocide measure, the summons of the ambassador for consultations was a further sign of the deteriorating relations between two longtime allies and the potential for new turmoil in an already troubled region.Egeman Bagis, an aide to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told Turkish media that Turkey — a conduit for many of the supplies shipped to American bases in both Iraq and Afghanistan — might have to cut logistical support to the U.S.Analysts also have speculated the resolution could make Turkey more inclined to send troops into northern Iraq to hunt Turkish Kurd rebels, a move opposed by the U.S. because it would disrupt one of the few relatively stable and peaceful Iraqi areas.

There are steps that we will take, Turkey's prime minister told reporters, but without elaboration. It also wasn't clear if he meant his government would act immediately or wait to see what happens to the resolution in Congress.He declined to answer questions about whether Turkey might shut down Incirlik air base in southern Turkey, a major cargo hub for U.S. and allied military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Turkey's Mediterranean port of Iskenderun is also used to ferry goods to American troops.You don't talk about such things, you just do them, Erdogan said.The measure before Congress is just a nonbinding resolution without the force of law, but the debate has incensed Turkey's government.

The relationship between the two NATO allies, whose troops fought together in the Korean War in 1950-53, have stumbled in the past. They hit a low in 2003, when Turkey's parliament refused to allow U.S. forces use their country as a staging ground for the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.But while the threat of repercussions against the U.S. is appealing for many Turks, the country's leaders know such a move could hurt Turkey's standing as a reliable ally of the West and its ambitions to be a mediator on the international stage.The Turks did suspend military ties with France last year after parliament's lower house approved a bill that would have made it a crime to deny the mass killings of Armenians in Turkey amounted to genocide. But Turkey has much more to lose from cutting ties to the U.S.The United States is one of its major business partners, with $11 billion in trade last year, and the U.S. defense industry provides much of the Turkish military's equipment.Turkey's ambassador in Washington, Nabi Sensoy, was ordered home for discussions with the Turkish leadership about what is happening in Congress, Foreign Minister spokesman Levent Bilman said. He said Sensoy would go back after seven to 10 days.

We are not withdrawing our ambassador. We have asked him to come to Turkey for some consultations, Bilman said. "The ambassador was given instructions to return and will come at his earliest convenience.The Bush administration, which is lobbying strongly in hopes of persuading Congress to reject the resolution, stressed the need for good relations with Turkey.We look forward to his quick return and will continue to work to maintain strong U.S.-Turkish relations, said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council. We remain opposed to House Resolution 106 because of the grave harm it could bring to the national security of the United States.Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the measure is damaging relations at a time when U.S. forces in Iraq rely heavily on Turkish permission to use their airspace for cargo flights.About 70 percent of U.S. air cargo headed for Iraq goes through Turkey as does about one-third of the fuel used by the U.S. military there. U.S. bases also get water and other supplies carried in overland by Turkish truckers who cross into Iraq's northern Kurdish region.

In addition, C-17 cargo planes fly military supplies to U.S. soldiers in remote areas of Iraq from Incirlik, avoiding the use of Iraqi roads vulnerable to bomb attacks. U.S. officials say the arrangement helps reduce American casualties. U.S.-Turkish ties already had been strained by Turkey's complaint the U.S. hasn't done enough to stop Turkish Kurd rebels from using bases in northern Iraq to stage attacks in southeastern Turkey, a predominantly Kurdish region where tens of thousands have died in fighting since 1984. Turkish warplanes and helicopter gunships attacked suspected positions of Kurdish rebels on the border this week and Turkey's parliament was expected to vote next week on a proposal to allow the military to pursue a large-scale offensive in northern Iraq. The U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Ross Wilson, was invited to the Foreign Ministry, where officials conveyed their unease over the resolution in Congress and asked the Bush administration do all in its power to stop passage by the full House, a Foreign Ministry official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make press statements.

Historians estimate up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I. Turkey denies the deaths constituted genocide, saying the killings didn't come from a coordinated campaign but rather during unrest accompanying the Ottoman Empire's collapse. The House Foreign Affairs Committee passed the resolution Wednesday despite intense lobbying by Turkish officials and the opposition from President Bush. The vote was a triumph for well-organized Armenian-American interest groups that have lobbied Congress for decades to pass a resolution. The administration will now try to pressure Democratic leaders in Congress not to schedule a vote, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated they were committed to going forward. Why do it now? Because there's never a good time and all of us in the Democratic leadership have supported it, she said. Turkish officials said the House had no business to get involved in writing history. It is not possible to accept such an accusation of a crime which was never committed by the Turkish nation, Turkey's government said after the committee adopted the measure. Associated Press writers C. Onur Ant in Istanbul and Suzan Fraser in Ankara contributed to this report.