DISCUSSIONS OF THE TURKS’ decision to send troops to Iraq have focused on whether the Iraqis like it (they don’t) and whether it’s bad for the Kurds (it might be). Both of these are important issues, and if I had my druthers, I’d keep the Turks out.

But the issue that I haven’t seen discussed is what this means from the Turks’ perspective — and I think that one of the things it means is that the Turks think we’re winning. If the Turks expected Iraq to dissolve into the bloody quagmire that some media types and pundits are still claiming it is, I expect that they’d keep well out of things.