Looks like Turkey may provide the next bit of fireworks in the Middle East.

Dozens of Turkish military vehicles streamed toward the Iraqi border with heavy artillery and ammunition Monday after Kurdish guerrillas killed a dozen soldiers and claimed to have captured eight in an intensifying crisis threatening to spill into Iraq.

Arab nations joined the U.S. and Europe in urging Turkey’s government not to attack suspected guerrilla bases in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, while Turkish citizens rallied across the country demanding action against the rebels.

This could hurt especially considering Turkey has a sizable contingent at the border.

The Pentagon has said 60,000 Turkish soldiers have deployed along the border. The north is one of the few relatively calm Iraqi regions, and the U.S. fears an incursion by its ally Turkey could worsen the Iraq war.

That’s a lot of troops, imagine the resulting skirmish could hurt. But have no fear, Condi is right on it. She’ll fix everything.

And if in the remote possiblity she doesn’t, so much for the stable part of Iraq, Kurdistan. Big mess and with perfect timing, Bin Laden issued a new tape.

In the brief tape played on Al-Jazeera television, the terrorist leader urged militants to “beware of division … The Muslim world is waiting for you to gather under one banner.”

…”My mujahedeen brothers in Iraq, you are a people worthy of praise and flattery. You’ve done well to carry out a glorious duty by fighting the enemy. But some of you have lagged behind in carrying out another glorious duty, which is to unite as one — as God wants,” bin Laden said.

He warned followers “against hypocritical enemies who are infiltrating your ranks to create sedition among mujahedeen groups.”

Just what we don’t need, al Qaida actually uniting to attack U.S. troops more that they already do now. And lest we forget the Shiites, the Iranian backed Shiite militants that is.

Al-Sadr later issued his own statement urging his Mahdi Army militia not to harm or kill fellow Iraqis. He also appeared to call on members of Iraqi government forces to stop cooperating with the U.S. military.

“You army and police of Iraq, don’t kill an Iraqi in the name of secular laws or in the name of ‘imposing the law,’” he said, using his phrase for the security crackdown in Baghdad and surrounding areas.

They aren’t being very helpful at all. None of them are. The U.S. military and Condi have their work cut out for them. Or not, as Bush is siding with Turkey on this. Might be over quickly, well the fight with the Kurdish rebels anyway if it comes to that.

I’m just not sure which spark will cause the Mideast to implode so I’ll just take a wait and see approach here.