We'd like to leave no child behind...but we're using that money to buy a friend.

The Bush administration's plans for a northern front against Iraq reached a critical point today, as Turkish leaders ruled out a deal to allow American combat troops to use their country without agreement first on a multibillion dollar economic aid package.

With time running out, a senior Turkish official said the government would present its final offer to American diplomats tonight. If the Bush administration agreed to the proposal, the official said, Parliament would probably vote this week to allow American combat troops to use the country as a base against Iraq.

If the Americans rejected the offer, the official said, Turkish leaders would decline to put the question to Parliament this week. In all likelihood, the Turkish official said, such a decision would mean that the American plans for a northern front from Turkey would be all but dead.

[snip...]

A senior Bush administration official said American aides told the Turks that the White House's offer of $26 billion — $6 billion in grants and $20 billion in loans — was "final."

Turkey requested more than twice that sum, the official said, but President Bush made clear that he would go no higher and that time for the Turks to make a decision was short.

Obvious question: wouldn't it just be cheaper to offer Saddam a billion dollars to go away? The we could use another, say, $5 billion to buy Bush some manhood, and we would be $20 billion ahead.

Oh yeah. And a bunch of people would still be alive....