Despite howls of protest from Turkish officials, Nancy Pelosi seems intent on bringing to the floor a resolution condemning Armenian genocide nearly 100 years ago. The debasement and massacre of hundreds of thousands of people clearly merits attention.
But the timing of this resolution is a bit sub-optimal. Why target a genocide which occurred 100 years ago, and not offer a similar resolution against the Japanese for genocide that occurred in World War II, half a century ago? Could it possibly be related to the fact that nearly 70% of all air cargo destined to supply the troops in Iraq passes through Turkey, who thus far have been a reasonably reliable ally?
The Turkish government has indicated they might revoke our ability to send supplies, including new mine-resistant vehicles, if Pelosi follows through with her non-binding resolution. So why now? To complicate Bush's life? You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.
Even Barney the Dinosaur could figure out that Pelosi is trying to be too clever by a half with the timing (not the content) of this resolution, and if Barney can, so can a good deal of the American public. I was once criticized on the Jon Stewart show for opining that Americans are smart enough to think for themselves. They are.
It's this type of tactical dissonance that has made Pelosi's first nine months such a rousing failure, if congressional approval polls are to be believed. The Democrats need a leader who plays chess, not hopscotch. Where's Francis Urquhart when you need him?
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“This happened a long time ago and I don’t know whether it was a massacre or a genocide; that is beside the point,” said Representative John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who is urging Ms. Pelosi to keep the resolution from the floor. “The point is, we have to deal with today’s world.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/17/washington/17cnd-cong.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2&hp&oref=slogin
Instead she brings up a 90 year old grievance we had nothing to do with? What?!?!?1/?!
Lets bring up all the grievances for the past 900 years like the fanatics all over the world do, to get their populations riled up.
Polosi: You are War Mongering!
I do believe this congress is held hostage to the rule of this administration.
What other explanation could there be for these capitulations?
They want to degrade our military so to make way for Blackwater and others.
Black water has 50k employees. This is a small army.
Would someone please give me a better reason for this action by democrats, NOW.
Why Now. When our troops are bogged down.
I do not trust any of them and feel something is about to happen.
They want war in the whole middle east.
Why did they sell Saudi Arabia $20b in arms sales two months ago. Isnt $20b excessive?
Why did they up the anty for Israels handout?
$325b annually.
Thats half our defense budget.
This also announced at the same time.
PD51 is only good for one year, from the date of inception.
They could admit it, be done with it, and move on - Armenians will not rest until this is dealt with, and Turkey does no favor to itself to resist this.
Also, I think someone should introduce a resolution condemning the American genocide in Iraq.
It wasn't the Republicans that that presented the genocide carried out by Saddam as GENOCIDE. It was most of the US Senate, it included past Dem Presidents and current Dem presidential candidates.
Of course non of this was a reason to rush into a stupid war. However let's be honest about what really happened. It was genocide and the dems and repubs correctly called it that.
We are in no position to accuse anybody of genocide. Just ask an American Indian, if you can find one. Just think of all the slaves that died during the middle passage and on American plantations all over the SOUTH!!!!
Why not concentrate on Darfur?
Answer = No votes there.
So if Bush wants to appease Turkey, he can give Nancy something the Democrats want. The resolution can then quietly not appear on the calendar, or the Senate can vote on a different version and the reconciliation not be finished till after Congress ends, etc.
If Bush does not want to appease Turkey, then maybe this is not that important. After all, much of the reason Turkey is irritated at the U.S. is not this {admittedly pointless nonbinding} resolution, but the result of US arms intended for Iraqi Kurdish militia, or the PEJAK, being used against the Turks by the PKK. Other countries, including Turkey, consider the PEJAK to be merely an arm of the PKK, not an independent organization.
The decision to arm the Kurds was an executive branch decision. No one seems to question it, but it is the reason the Turkish army wants to move into Iraq. So let's stop knocking Pelosi over this, and bring a little balance into our analysis.
I wonder what our soldiers think about this latest insane development via the Dems?
Are you too afraid of what the historians may decide on considering that the historians supporting Armenian genocide ran away from a joint study group (that was supposed to include researchers supporting each side) to investigate all the available documents on this subject?
Anyway, I sincerely hope that this would pass from the Senate. Cause after that if Turkey, using unarguable documents, can make US to take back that decision showing the inaccuracy of the resolution, this would be the biggest blow to the supporters of Armenian Genocide around the world...
So I guess a good time would have been back when they did it before. How many times do you have to call it genocide...every couple of decades?
Maybe now would be a good time to figure out how to stop the current genocides so we don't have to have this conversation 100yrs from NOW.
And, I am positive that, after they get that, they will start telling you, call it those tragic events whatever you like, we got what we had desired for a long time (dating back to maybe a century before that events took place), I don't really care about what had happened a century ago.