And Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfeld....A great and honorable American.
Posted on 10/19/2007 9:22:59 AM PDT by COUNTrecount
There are three relevant questions concerning the Armenian genocide.
(a) Did it happen?
(b) Should the U.S. House of Representatives be expressing itself on this now?
(c) Was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's determination to bring this to a vote, knowing that it risked provoking Turkey into withdrawing crucial assistance to American soldiers in Iraq, a conscious (columnist Thomas Sowell) or unconscious (blogger Mickey Kaus) attempt to sabotage the U.S. war effort?
The answers are:
(a) Yes, unequivocally.
(b) No, unequivocally.
(c) God only knows.
That between 1 million and 1.5 million Armenians were brutally and systematically massacred starting in 1915 in a deliberate genocidal campaign is a matter of simple historical record. If you really want to deepen and broaden awareness of that historical record, you should support the establishment of the Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial in Washington, D.C. But to pass a declarative resolution in the House of Representatives in the middle of a war in which we are inordinately dependent on Turkey is the height of irresponsibility.
The atrocities happened 90 years ago. Not a single living Turk under the age of 102 is in any way culpable. Even Mesrob Mutafyan, patriarch of the Armenian community in Turkey, has stated that his community is opposed to the resolution, correctly calling it the result of domestic American politics.
Turkey is already massing troops near the Iraq border, threatening a campaign against Kurdish rebels that could destabilize the one stable front in Iraq. The same House of Representatives that has been complaining loudly about the lack of armored vehicles for our troops is blithely jeopardizing relations with the country through which 95 percent of the new heavily armored vehicles are now transiting on the way to saving American lives in Iraq.
And for what? To feel morally clean?
How does this work? Pelosi says: "Genocide still exists, and we saw it in Rwanda; we see it now in Darfur." Precisely. And what exactly is she doing about Darfur? Nothing. Pronouncing yourself on a genocide committed 90 years ago by an empire that no longer exists is Pelosi's demonstration of seriousness about existing, ongoing genocide?
Indeed, the Democratic Party she's leading in the House has been trying for months to force a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq that could very well lead to genocidal civil war. This prospect has apparently not deterred her in the least.
"Friends don't let friends commit crimes against humanity," explained Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee that passed the Armenian genocide resolution. This must rank among the most stupid statements ever uttered by a member of Congress, admittedly a very high bar.
Does Smith know anything about the history of the Armenian genocide? Of the role played by Henry Morgenthau? As U.S. ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Morgenthau tried desperately to intervene on behalf of the Armenians. It was his consular officials deep within Turkey who (together with missionaries) brought out news of the genocide. And it was Morgenthau who helped tell the world about it in his writings. Near East Relief, the U.S. charity strongly backed by President Wilson and the Congress, raised and distributed an astonishing $117 million in food, clothing and other vital assistance that, wrote historian Howard Sachar, "quite literally kept an entire nation alive."
So much for the U.S. letting friends commit crimes against humanity. And at the time, the Ottomans were not friends. They were an enemy power in World War I, allied with Germany. Now the Turks are indeed friends, giving us indispensable logistical help in our war against today's premier perpetrators of crimes against humanity — al-Qaida in Iraq and Afghanistan. Friends don't gratuitously antagonize friends who are helping fight the world's foremost war criminals.
So why has Pelosi been so committed to bringing this resolution to the floor? (At least until a revolt within her party and the prospect of defeat caused her to waver.) Because she is deeply unserious about foreign policy. This little stunt gets added to the ledger: first, her visit to Syria, which did nothing but give legitimacy to Bashar al-Assad, who continues to be engaged in the systematic murder of pro-Western Lebanese members of parliament; then, her letter to Costa Rica's ambassador, just nine days before a national referendum, aiding and abetting opponents of a very important free-trade agreement with the United States.
Is the Armenian resolution her way of unconsciously sabotaging the U.S. war effort, after she had failed to stop it by more direct means? I leave that question to psychiatry.
Instead, I fall back on Krauthammer's razor (with apologies to Occam): In explaining any puzzling Washington phenomenon, always choose stupidity over conspiracy, incompetence over cunning. Anything else gives them too much credit.
Krauthammer is a Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C. (letters@charleskrauthammer.com )
Love this guy. Try to not miss the Fox All Stars when he's on.
More like a demonstration of Pelosi's hypocrisy when it comes to dealing with Darfur, Rwanda, and other places.
I think there's a better delimma. Pelosi has been shown to be totally ineffective. But the dems and the MSM made such a big deal of the first woman speaker, they are paralyzed to do anything abour her failure.
Stay tuned to see what they do. I bet if Mrs. Clinton is elected, Pelosi will then move out.
“Pronouncing yourself on a genocide committed 90 years ago by an empire that no longer exists is Pelosi’s demonstration of seriousness about existing, ongoing genocide?”
Translation: Pelosi is a dumba$$!
Bump
Thank God she isn't.
Turkey and Iran have both been shelling the Kurds since Nancy and the Dems screwed up.
Reed and Pelosi have to be the worst ever. Even when the dems were in power they had some people who got things done, right or wrong. I go back to Sam Rayburn.
Another good one from Charles.
Unlike many columnists, he has a great sense of the past.
What astonishes me, over and over again, is Ms. Pelosi’s apparent ignorance of the past, and what it means for us today.
Speaker Pelosi’s lack of knowledge about history is something I WOULD expect from a college freshman(there isn’t much history being taught these days - and what is taught is PC’d up gibberish), not from the speaker of the House.
My God. Please save us from such people.
In explaining any puzzling Washington phenomenon, always choose stupidity over conspiracy, incompetence over cunning. Anything else gives them too much credit.
Chucks the man!
The Wall Street Journal in a recent editorial opined that this was either conscious treason or sheer stupidity.
Affirmation of the United States Record on Slavery in the United States
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
Suggestion to: THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 19, 2007
No sponsor – a suggestion to Congress
________________________________________
RESOLUTION
A resolution to condemn the Democrat Party of the United
States for their support, in the years preceding the
War of Secession, of continued slavery within the United States;
their support of the slave trade from the African nations;
their lack of resolve to relieve the African peoples from the suffering
caused by the slave trades, including the inhumane conditions aboard
the ships that transported the slaves to this Nation;
and to condemn the Democrat party for their many member’s opposition
to the Civil Rights Laws of 1964.
Resolved,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This resolution may be cited as the `Unveiling of Double Standards Resolution.’
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The House of Representatives finds the following:
1. Whereas Slavery was a legal institution within the United States
until the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862,
which specified that the slaves would be free people on the
first day of January, 1863;
2. Whereas the opposition to the Proclamation
consisted of the Democrat party and the Whig party;
3. Whereas the human suffering, including beatings, mutilation,
rape and torture legalized by the slave trade was well known
to citizens of the United States and their elected and appointed representatives;
4. Whereas the Republican party was founded upon the desire
to end slavery in the United States;
5. Whereas the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Abraham Lincoln,
the first Republican president, and not any of the previous
presidents who were members of the Democrat party;
6. Whereas many members of the Democrat party did not support the desire to end slavery;
7. Whereas the Democrat Party’s opposition to ending slavery
resulted in the continued suffering of many peoples, and
possible deaths of those who were enslaved.
8. Whereas 73% of the Congressmen who voted against the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 were members of the Democrat party;
SEC. 3. DECLARATION OF POLICY.
The House of Representatives--
(1) calls upon the schools of this nation to properly educate the students as to the true record of the Democrat Party in their opposition to end of slavery in the United States, and for all media sources (printed, broadcast, and electronic) to do the same.
Pelosi IS a turkey. One that I wouldn’t want for Thanksgiving, either.
My first two answers would be the same: yes and no respectively. The third, though - you know what? The more I think about this the more sense I get that Pelosi and her dancing weasels didn’t have a clue nor did they care what effect this might have on present-day foreign relations. They were thrashing about for a bill they could pass that would make them look significant. Are they really that stupid? Yes, they’re really that stupid.
And Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfeld....A great and honorable American.
I'll pick "incompetent conspiratists" on this one for $1000.00 Alex.
If the repbs would stand up on their hind legs and make some hay off these guys, we've got a shot in 08.
xlnt! Dems, the original Turkey!
Yes, allied since the 1880s -- and there's ample proof that Germany was complicit.
There is more than ample proof of Germany's complicity why not include Germany? One source is 'German Responsibility in the Armenian Genocide: A Review of the Historical Evidence of German Complicity' by Vahakn N. Dadrian.
Don't nobody get their bowels in an uproar, no one is trying to shift the blame. Key word, complicity.
Yo, Pelf Party a.k.a. Rat Party (formerly the traditional, patriotic Democratic Party) members, next time you can two,two pissed-off partners in one resolution. Go for it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.