Posted on 12/24/2004 12:43:10 PM PST by BenLurkin
YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) Armenia's parliament voted Friday to send 46 non-combat troops to Iraq, a move that was backed by President Robert Kocharian but drew sharp criticism from many Armenians and opposition groups.
After more than seven hours of debate behind closed doors, lawmakers in the National Assembly voted 91-23, with one abstention, to send the contingent, which will include bomb-disposal experts, doctors and transport specialists.
The troops could be deployed to Iraq as early as next month and could serve in Iraq for up to a year, said Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisyan, adding that the contingent would only conduct humanitarian operations.
"There is not, and will not be an Armenian military presence in Iraq," Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan said. "In the humanitarian aspect, it is preferable for Armenia to contribute to the postwar reconstruction of Iraq, in establishing democracy in this country which has important significance for the region and which could have an impact on the Caucasus."
The troops would serve as part of the Polish-led multinational force, officials said. That force operates in a belt of territory south of Baghdad, though Armenia has not specified where its troops will deploy.
The Constitutional Court ruled earlier this month that Kocharian's plan to send non-combat troops to Iraq did not violate the country's constitution.
Kocharian has sought to portray the decision to send troops to Iraq as a way to boost ties with Europe.
But the proposal had been widely criticized by opposition parties, many Armenians and even the 30,000-strong Armenian community in Iraq, which feared being targeted for attacks if the troops were sent.
"We shouldn't even be sending humanitarian troops to Iraq, because we can't jeopardize the security of Armenians living Iraq, said Viktor Dalakyan, a leader with the opposition party Justice. "Moreover their lives are already being threatened."
In August, an Armenian Apostolic church in Baghdad was hit in a wave of attacks on Iraq's minority Christians that that killed 11 people and injured more than 50.
The troops will join a multinational division that includes troops from other former Soviet countries, such as Georgia and Armenia's archrival, Azerbaijan.
Other former Soviet republics that have also sent troops to Iraq are Ukraine, Georgia and the three Baltic countries.
It is amazing how far flung the pro-terrorists fifth columns are all around the world.
We need to stop tolerating the quislings on the left in this country and maybe set an example.
Glad to see other countries helping out now.
Pretty damned sad, when Armenia has more clarity on issues that France, Germany or Russia.
Look at those former soviet satellite states. Love it!
It seems the anti-islamism of the Armenians is limited to the Turks (ditto with many other eastern and oriental chr*stians).
These countries,former soviet satellite,are the NEW EUROPE
with today Italy,UK,former spanish government...and all those who love liberty.
They have learnt what tiranny is but France and Germany are inventors of modern totalitarisms.Those 2 countries suffer a serious illness with their past.
FRENCH FOR BUSH AND FREEDOM
I am aware of that. I merely remark on the ironic fact that the Armenians, who nurse an understandable resentment against moslem Turkey for that very reason, actually seem to support and identify with Arab/Iranian moslems against the US and Israel (ditto with Greeks and other Balkan chr*stians).
BTTT
I don't spell out chr*stian because my religious beliefs prohibit me from using the names of false "gxds." Most Orthodox Jews write "X-mas." I don't do this because "X" is the Greek letter "Chi" (the first letter of the title of the Nazarene in your religion) and I don't believe it should be used as a euphemism. I believe devout chr*stians should be able to use the "X" as an abbreviation without feeling they are betraying their religious beliefs, so I instead spell out the word except for one letter. If it makes you feel any better, I also refuse to spell out the names of pagan "gxds," which means I also put the "*" in the names of months and days of the week--and get ridiculed for it.
The whole point of my post was that the Armenians, who hate the moslem Turks, seem to be sympathetic with moslem Iraqis. Why did they oppose the overthrow of Saddam Hussein? Why do they support the Palestine Liberation Organization (the Armenian terrorist organizations had the late unlamented Yassir Arafat as a godfather). The Armenian Church, like all the ancient liturgical churches (especially the Eastern and Oriental ones) is virulently anti-Israel and anti-Zionist (and anti-Fundamentalist Protestant). The "Catholicos Patriarch of the Great House of Cilicia" even visited Hezbollah bases in southern Lebanon and declared that he considered terrorists killed in that conflict to be "martyrs" of his own church. This doesn't sound like an anti-moslem church, however much it hates the Turks.
Finally, in case you haven't noticed, chr*stian Armenia is one of the darling causes of the American secularist Left which ridicules American chr*stians and screams bloody murder at the mention of "chr*stian America." In addition to this, the Armenians traditionally have a hard Left orientation (they wanted to be part of the Soviet Unionand the late Patriarch Vazken said that Armenians should not have an anti-Soviet orientation since the Soviet Union was their only chance at survival). I was attending an Armenian Apostolic church during this period and read their church bulletins (plus the homilies were sickeningly Leftist).
I am sorry my initial post offended you, but the fact is that I know a little bit more about this than you think I do.
They are a Jewish sect who drop the ten commandments down to seven.
They are not a Jewish sect. Halakhically, all non-Jews are Noachides and will one day discard all their false religions and embrace the True G-d and acknowledge His Torah.
Neither do they "drop down" the commandments from ten to seven. All non-Jewish mankind from the time of Adam were given seven commandments. This is mankind's true duty before G-d. Jews on the other hand are bound by 613 commandments, not ten. The ten "commandments" were in fact G-d's Ten Utterences (`Aseret HaDevarim or `Aseret HaDibberot) to Israel from Mt. Sinai. The "ten commandments" are a chr*stian invention. If you're Jewish you're bound by the entire Torah; if you're not you're bound by the Seven Noachide Laws.
I wouldn't go popping off about other people's alleged lack of expertise if I were you. You obviously can only read the Bible in translation, and a translation of the Bible is not the Bible itself.
I have spent some time in Armenia (the oldest Christian Country) and when I look out and see Mount Ararat and little Ararat, it gave me a nice feeling.
Why didn't you ask the clergy there why they don't believe Noah really existed or why they believe the Flood was a myth? The Armenian Church is liberal as all get out and has bought into the entire higher critical/evolutionist/deconstruction blasphemy. I suppose you think their great antiquity gives them the right to reject the Word of G-d. As long as you're being awed by people's pedigrees, the Jews have the world's longest, so you should be even more awed by them.
So you attended an Armenian Church and that makes you an expert on the oldest Christian Country.
I notice you have not denied a single point I made. If you're only going to snipe and not actually answer my points are say anything worth hearing, kindly refrain from harrassing me.
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.