With the world in so much danger of a global war I believe this is the most important story of the day.

Why shouldn’t Turkey retaliate against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) for killing 12 Turkish soldiers during an attack on a patrol in the rugged mountainous border that defines the separation of two countries? And why is America asking Turkey to restrain itself from retaliation for a couple of days? The Turkish government warned they were expecting quick steps from the U.S. as a requirement of the "strategic alliance" between the two countries.

Alliance between Turkey and the United States is best described as tentative at most times. In 1975 I was flying out of Istanbul on Air France with a group of US Air Force men that had been held hostages by Turkish Government for over six months.

Although Turkey has caved in, so far to the American request, I don’t feel Turkey should show any restraint in crossing the border to capture or kill as many of these PKK terrorist as possible.

In Ankara, the Turkish military said the PKK rebels had crossed from northern Iraq into the southern Turkish province of Hakkari just after midnight. They blew up a bridge about three miles from the border as an army infantry unit crossed, then fired on troops in a cross fire from three sides. Turkish official stated that 12 soldiers died and 16 soldiers were injured.

Separately, 17 civilians were injured, six seriously, when a wedding party, travelling near the site of the ambush detonated a land mine that had been planted by the rebels. One can expect anger and rage throughout Turkey, with demands of revenge. Demonstrators took to the streets in several cities, including Bursa, where protesters vandalized the headquarters of a Kurdish political party, destroying furniture, shattering windows and draping the office with a Turkish flag.

This latest skirmish comes at an especially tense and awkward period as Turkish authorities were already threatening to cross into northern Iraq to root out and attack Kurdish guerrilla camps. Turkey's parliament authorized the government troops to carry out such incursions as early as last week, despite calls for restraint from George Bush in Washington and Iraqi government.

A government spokesman stated although Turkey respects Iraq's territorial integrity, they will not tolerate that terrorism is aided and abetted in this region, and they will not refrain from paying any price to protect their rights and laws, territorial integrity and protect their people. The statement added, however, the Turkish government would try to avoid harming relations with other countries, a signal that it might heed calls for diplomacy. Turkey has long been demanding that U.S. forces take action against PKK rebels, who have found refuge in northern Iraq's relatively peaceful semiautonomous Kurdish region.