Turkey Nullifies Vote!

Stunning Blow to Powell

In a serious blow to U.S. plans for a possible war with Iraq, Turkey's parliament speaker nullified the legislature's vote Saturday to allow deployment of 62,000 U.S. combat troops to open a northern front against Iraq.

Speaker Bulent Arinc voided the vote on constitutional grounds, ruling that a majority of legislators present had not voted in favor. Arinc then closed parliament until Tuesday.

The vote was 264-250 with 19 abstentions, four short of a simple majority.

Powell has failed with Turkey and there are increasing signs that the Security Council will also not approve the joint US-UK resolution. Bush can either go ahead without UN approval, possibly without UK support where Blair faces increasing pressure from his own party, or pull back and regroup.

Bush may have backed himself into a corner and still feel forced to launch a war by the end of March.

Listen to the pundits Sunday and see if anyone has any clue on what the administration plans. Also to see if anyone else has picked up on that the nine votes that Bush needs in the Security Council are not there. The possibility of France or Russia not using their veto is clearly gone after the example Turkey has set.

Some resignations from within this administration are also likely.