Quote Originally Posted by Husar
There we go, but what I don't understand that well is why Turkey is necessary for supplies? Can't they just deliver the supplies directly to Iraq?
Iraq has ports and airports for such deliveries or are they somehow not able to use them for supply shipments? I understand a lot of the US Air Force is stationed in Turkey as the planes would probably be targeted by mortars etc if stationed in Iraq, but supplies?
Air space. Iraq has a small coastline, accessible through the Persian Gulf only. To get there from the West, slow freighters would need to take the Med/Suez route around the Arabian penisula, or go around Africa. Either one would also need to go past the Strait of Hormuz, under Iranian missiles. To fly in supplies without Turkish permission, we would need to fly through Syrian, Iranian, Jordanian, or Saudi airspace. Permission to fly US arms through any of those would be unlikely, at best.