On the December 18 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume, correspondent Anita McNaught uncritically aired Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's claim that Turkey's December 16 bombing of Kurdish areas in northern Iraq was “a Turkish decision.” However, McNaught did not mention the United States' reported role in the Turkish attack. According to a December 17 New York Times article about the bombings, “The commander of the Turkish Army, Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, said the United States had helped the operation by offering intelligence and clearance to enter Iraqi airspace Saturday [December 15] night.”

Rice's comment that the bombings were a “Turkish decision” came in response to a reporter's question asking if “the Turks informed you in advance of this operation and if the U.S. helped them with intelligence.” But McNaught did not air the first part of Rice's response to that question: that “the United States, Iraq, and Turkey share a common interest in stopping the activities of the PKK [the Kurdistan Workers Party]” and that there was a “trilateral discussion about our common interest in dealing with this problem.”

Further, according to a December 17 Associated Press report, “a Pentagon official said the U.S. military had 'deconflicted the air space' in Iraq for the strikes -- that is, the U.S. made sure Turkey would have clear use of the skies to enable the bombings.” The AP report continued: “Another Pentagon official said the U.S. military has been sharing intelligence with Turkey, but that he did not know exactly what information was given to aid with the air strikes or when it might have been given.” Time magazine's December 17 report on the bombings quoted Buyukanit saying that "[b]y opening its airspace, America gave its approval to the operation":

The official U.S. line is that Washington did not approve Turkey's Sunday air strike on Kurdish targets in northern Iraq. But the U.S. does control the skies over Iraq and the Pentagon did open airspace over Iraq for at least three hours to Turkish warplanes. It was also informed of the raids beforehand, according to an American spokesperson in Ankara. “By opening its airspace, America gave its approval to the operation,” Turkish General Yasar Buyukanit said. He also said U.S. intelligence provided targeting information for the attack. The U.S. may not have formally approved Sunday's operation, but it did everything short of that.

From the December 18 question and answer session with Rice and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari:

QUESTION: I had a question for both of you. Secretary, in terms of the Turkish army and of the Iraqi territory today, just when you were in northern Iraq -- I wanted to know if, first, the Turks informed you in advance of this operation and if the U.S. helped them with intelligence. And Mr. Minister, did you raise this -- the question of the incursion of the Turks in the Iraqi territory with the Secretary today?

RICE: Well, first of all, the United States, Iraq, and Turkey share a common interest in stopping the activities of the PKK which threaten to undo the stability of the north, which clearly have resulted in deaths in Turkey, and when we were recently together in Istanbul, we actually had a trilateral discussion about our common interest in dealing with this problem. This is a circumstance in which the United States has constantly counseled that we need a overall comprehensive approach to this problem, that we should do nothing and no one should do anything that threatens to destabilize the north.

As to the activities, things unfortunately do go along -- go on along this border. As to the activity last Sunday, this was a Turkish decision and we have made clear to the Turkish Government that we continue to be concerned about anything that could lead to innocent civilian casualties or to a destabilization of the north.

ZEBARI: Well, the Iraqi Government has protested to the Turkish Government over the attacks on the civilians recently. And as we speak, also there is another limited military incursion going on, but high up in the mountains in unpopulated areas. But the Iraqi Government and the regional authorities are monitoring that very, very closely. I think as the Secretary said, we have shared common goals here. We want stability and security in Iraq and with Iraq's neighbors also and the border areas. PKK presence is unacceptable. PKK has conducted terrorist activities against Turkish interests and civilians and their presence is not acceptable, neither by the Iraqi Government or the KRG authorities.

We also have sought to work together jointly in a trilateral way. Only recently before this incident, in fact, the Iraqi Government took the initiative to invite for -- to ask for a meeting where the United States and Turkey tried to follow up on this. We believe any unilateral actions to destabilize the situation will harm Iraq's interests and Turkish interests at the same time, but in the same time, we fully understand and appreciate the legitimate security concern Turkey has over the PKK terrorist activities against them.

From the December 18 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume:

BRIT HUME (host): Secretary of State Rice has paid an unannounced visit to Iraq. Her call came just days after Turkish forces went across the border into Iraq to attack Kurdish rebels in the biggest such strike in years. Correspondent Anita McNaught reports.

[begin video clip]

McNAUGHT: Kurdish villagers in northern Iraq are cleaning up after Turkish air strikes Sunday. These people are poor, their livestock precious, their misfortune to live in a region used by PKK militants on a deadly campaign for Kurdish rights in Turkey.

The balance of power in this region is extremely delicate. America is now helping the Turkish military, but it relies heavily on Kurdish support. So-called collateral damage is precisely what the United States doesn't want to see. In Baghdad this afternoon, the U.S. secretary of state indicated she was not comfortable with the bombing.

RICE: This was a Turkish decision, and we have made clear to the Turkish government that we continue to be concerned about anything that could lead to innocent civilian casualties or to a destabilization of the north.

McNAUGHT: Condoleezza Rice began her surprise visit in Iraq's northern region meeting local leaders in the city of Kirkuk.

RICE: The United States is very interested in the future of this very important province, Kirkuk. It's very critical.

McNAUGHT: The city's a future flashpoint, its oil and gas wells already the subject of bitter dispute between local Kurds and Iraq's central government. Sectarian violence and Al Qaeda bombings continue here, and many in Iraq fear worse lies ahead when the region holds a referendum next year on whether to come under Kurdish control.

But in the now quieter Baghdad, Secretary Rice sharing a platform with the Iraqi foreign minister, hammered home a warning to Iraq's politicians: They've got to make more progress in reconciliation and law reform.

RICE: We all understand that democracy is hard and that it takes time, but it is also the case that when people elect their leaders they expect them to make very strong efforts to move forward.

McNAUGHT: The Iraqi foreign minister said it himself this afternoon.

[end video clip]

McNAUGHT: “This country now needs another surge, a political surge, if its people are to have any hope that the gains made in security and effective provincial government are in any way sustainable.” Secretary Rice is not the first visiting U.S. official to underline that same point. She's also unlikely to be the last. In Baghdad, Anita McNaught, Fox News.