Posted on 10/16/2007 8:13:03 PM PDT by Ooh-Ah
... Make no mistake: I'm on the Armenian side in the court of history. ...
...It's not the wording - but the timing.
Legislation similar to this has come up repeatedly in Congress, yet it's always been defeated - in 2000, because of pressure from the Clinton administration. But if the resolution passes the House and Senate now, the Turks plan to evict us from Incirlik airbase in southeastern Turkey, to halt our military over-flight privileges and to shut down the supply routes into northern Iraq.
That's what the Democrats are aiming at. This resolution isn't about justice for the Armenians. Not this time. It's a stunningly devious attempt to impede our war effort in Iraq and force premature troop withdrawals.
The Dems calculate that, without those flights and convoys, we won't be able to keep our troops adequately supplied. Key intelligence and strike missions would disappear.
...the loss of the base and those routes would definitely hurt our troops. Severely. And we'd be more reliant than ever on a single, vulnerable lifeline running from Kuwait.
It's a brilliant ploy - the Dems get to stab our troops in the back, but lay the blame off on the Turks. They pretend they're responding to their Armenian-American constituents - while actually moving to placate MoveOn.org.
For the Democrats in Congress, it looks like a cost-free strategy. For our troops? When did the Dems give a damn about our troops? This resolution isn't a stand in favor of historical justice. It's an end-run that ducks behind the bench. It's one of the most cynical betrayals in our legislative history - of our troops, of Armenian-Americans, of the Kurds under threat from the Turkish military and of the people of Iraq.
...
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Ralph Peters has hit the nail right on the head! For once I agree with him 100%
I was stationed in Turkey for a year, supporting Incirlik (prounounced in-jur-lik...so much for the know-it-all talking heads). Our war effort would be crippled without overflight rights and use of Incirlik. Of course, that’s what Lantos, Pelosi, Murtha, et al, want. They want to stack the deck so we can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in Iraq. And all so they can win in ‘08!
Turkey is a strategic ally and a long-term friend. What happened to the Armenians at the hands of the OTTOMANS over 100 years ago was tragic. It should be condemned, but not now, and not this way.
Write your Representatives! Tell them, especially if they’re Dems, that their transparent ploy is sabotage...plain and simple!
Good Job, Ralph
//signed//
Classmate, Cmd & General Staff College, 1991-1992
You are more American than Pelosi.
I am an American first, just like you.
bump
I think Nancy Pe-lousy is going to chew it on this one, I don’t think that it will pass the House let alone the Senate.
I just read an article about co-sponsors backing out, and Pelosi and other dims backpedaling like crazy.
One thing Pelsoi said, and not that I ever beleive her much, but she said it has bipartisan support. Were there really any RINO's in support of this piece of crap?
Barev!
I’m also of Armenian decent. I’ve always been supportive of Turkey since they’ve (usually) been a reliable ally of the US. Yes, I want to see them acknowledge what the Ottomans did during WWI; however, I want them to do so not so much because of what it would mean to the Armenian people but because it would be best for Turkey. I think that they are weakened by their repeated denials of the Armenian genocide. Since I don’t want to see an American ally weakened, I want them to come clean on the issue.
As for Pelosi, she and the rest of the Democrats obviously don’t give a rip about the Armenians or what happened in 1915. And since Armenian troops have been serving with the Coalition in Iraq, she’d probably be happy to see a few of them killed if it would hurt George Bush. What a pathetic piece of crap.
No if they had any testicles (and they don't) they'd offer a resolution declaring the Democrats traitors for trying to end the Iraq war by stabbing our troops on the ground in the back with this petty political ploy to instigate Turkey into the enemy column.
Thank you FRiend.
The Democrats have declared war on the USA without a formal resolution.
It appears so. This is from 2004 but I doubt that the ANC dropped out of politics since then.
"Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairmen Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) both will return to the 109th Congress, along with 138 of the 142 Caucus members. . . ."
Bump
Legislation similar to this has come up repeatedly in Congress, yet it's always been defeated - in 2000, because of pressure from the Clinton administration. But if the resolution passes the House and Senate now, the Turks plan to evict us from Incirlik airbase in southeastern Turkey, to halt our military over-flight privileges and to shut down the supply routes into northern Iraq. That's what the Democrats are aiming at. This resolution isn't about justice for the Armenians. Not this time. It's a stunningly devious attempt to impede our war effort in Iraq and force premature troop withdrawals. The Dems calculate that, without those flights and convoys, we won't be able to keep our troops adequately supplied... It's a brilliant ploy - the Dems get to stab our troops in the back, but lay the blame off on the Turks... For the Democrats in Congress, it looks like a cost-free strategy. For our troops? When did the Dems give a damn about our troops? This resolution isn't a stand in favor of historical justice. It's an end-run that ducks behind the bench. It's one of the most cynical betrayals in our legislative history - of our troops, of Armenian-Americans, of the Kurds under threat from the Turkish military and of the people of Iraq.
Too bad that it’s too soon to say that the beeotch is toast. This suits the purposes of Hillary Clinton though.
Pelosi Says Bush Hasn’t Phoned Her About Turkey and Genocide
New York Times | 10/14/07 | brian knowlton
Posted on 10/15/2007 3:34:52 PM EDT by Dane
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1911553/posts
“The House speaker, one of four Congressional leaders to appear on the Sunday talk shows, repeated her vow to move the genocide question to the full House for debate now that the House Foreign Affairs Committee has passed it. But when George Stephanopoulos asked the key question — how would she react if Mr. Bush or Defense Secretary Robert Gates called her to say that they were ‘just certain that this is going to put our military at risk’ — she replied: ‘The president hasn’t called me on it, so that’s hypothetical. He hasn’t called me on it.’”
[consider yourself ‘called on it’ now, beeotch]
Pelosi Wavering on Armenian Resolution
ABC
Posted on 10/16/2007 6:30:56 PM EDT by Republican Red
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1912138/posts
“Pelosi, as recently as Sunday on ‘This Week’, has repeatedly said she would call the controversial but nonbinding resolution for a vote despite the opposition of the Bush administration and warnings that it could damage U.S. relations with Turkey... At least seven House members have withdrawn as co-sponsors of the bill and several more are expected to follow. Key Pelosi ally Rep. John Murtha, D-Penn., is also lobbying against a vote. Key House members continue to canvass members but don’t expect a vote this year.”
Democrats split on genocide resolution
The Hill | October 16, 2007 | Jim Snyder
Posted on 10/16/2007 4:49:26 PM EDT by jazusamo
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1912098/posts
“Reps. Alcee Hastings of Florida, John Murtha of Pennsylvania, Robert Wexler of Florida and Steve Cohen and John Tanner, both of Tennessee, will participate in the news conference... Despite the pushback, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has indicated she would bring the controversial resolution to the floor. California is home to a significant number of Armenian-Americans, including some who came to the United States after fleeing the World War I-era upheaval... During his presidency... Bill Clinton... worked to block an Armenian genocide resolution from passing the House.”
[fixed that last sentence to remove the implication that President Reagan tried to block such a resolution]
Key Democrats oppose Armenian bill (including Reps. Murtha, Skelton)
Reuters on Yahoo | 10/16/07 | Susan Cornwell
Posted on 10/16/2007 8:00:34 PM EDT by NormsRevenge
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1912176/posts
“Ronald Reagan, a Californian, was the only president to publicly call the killings genocide.”
Dems Withdraw Support of Armenian Genocide Resolution
Associated Press | October 16, 2007 | Unknown
Posted on 10/16/2007 8:14:04 PM EDT by decimon
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1912181/posts
“The loss of support is a major setback to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill, who have fiercely defended the resolution to Republicans and the Bush administration as a moral imperative in condemning the World War I-era killings of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks.”
Support Wanes in House for Genocide Vote [Turkey]
New York Times | 10/17/07 | Carl Hurlse
Posted on 10/17/2007 12:13:52 AM EDT by advance_copy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1912296/posts
“House members from both parties have begun to withdraw their support from a resolution backed by the Democratic leadership that would condemn as genocide the mass killings of Armenians nearly a century ago... Until Tuesday, the measure appeared on a path to House passage, with strong support from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.”
Gep’s Lobbying Was A Turkey
(Dick Gephardt couldn’t get Pelosi to withdraw resolution support)
NY Post | 10/13/07 | Robert Novak
Posted on 10/15/2007 6:52:24 PM EDT by Libloather
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1911624/posts
“Former Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, a registered lobbyist for Turkey, failed several months ago to get his successor as top House Democrat, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to withdraw her support from a long-pending resolution condemning alleged Turkish genocide of Armenians in 1915... Pelosi has pledged House action this year on the genocide resolution that in the past was blocked by Dennis Hastert, her Republican predecessor as speaker. In addition to Gephardt, the Turkish government also hired a top Republican lobbyist: Bob Livingston, former chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.”
Just the offering of the resolution has had consequences for US relations with Turkey, and Pelosi et al need to be censured at least, and preferably expelled from Congress.
Grandstanding Has Consequences, It’s amateur hour in Congress.
National Review Online | 19.15.07 | Michael Rubin
Posted on 10/15/2007 4:27:52 PM EDT by Dane
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1911571/posts
“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) pooh-poohed the episode. This was not about Turkey, she explained, but rather ‘about the Ottoman Empire.’ Unclear, though, is why congressional Democrats felt the urgent need to condemn an entity that hasn’t existed for 85 years... In an election season, Pelosi, Biden, and Murtha, may have no greater goal than to garner headlines, but U.S. servicemen fighting terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan do. Countering proliferation and fighting terrorism will dominate diplomacy regardless of who next occupies the White House... troops continue to sacrifice to defend U.S. national security, it is unfortunate that headline seeking congressmen seek to make their job that much harder.”
Turkey’s Top General: ‘The US Shot Itself in the Foot”
http://www.thememriblog.org/turkey/blog_personal/en/3225.htm
Posted on 10/15/2007 8:06:41 PM EDT by cool2007
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1911663/posts
“In an interview with the daily, Buyukanit said if the non-binding resolution that passed in a House committee last week was to be adopted in the House too, Turkish-US military ties would ‘never be the same again.’ The general expressed the opinion that world parliaments had no business in judging history. He said, ‘The US is a very important ally of ours, but an ally does not act like this.’ This week, General Buyukanit will visit Israel.”
Playing Politics With Genocide—
Dems ‘ devious attempt to impede our war effort in Iraq”
New York Post | October 14, 2007 | Ralph Peters
Posted on 10/16/2007 11:13:03 PM EDT by Ooh-Ah
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1912280/posts
Legislation similar to this has come up repeatedly in Congress, yet it’s always been defeated - in 2000, because of pressure from the Clinton administration. But if the resolution passes the House and Senate now, the Turks plan to evict us from Incirlik airbase in southeastern Turkey, to halt our military over-flight privileges and to shut down the supply routes into northern Iraq. That’s what the Democrats are aiming at... It’s a brilliant ploy - the Dems get to stab our troops in the back, but lay the blame off on the Turks... For the Democrats in Congress, it looks like a cost-free strategy. For our troops? When did the Dems give a damn about our troops?
When Amateurs Make Foreign Policy (In Respect To Turkey)
Investor’s Business Daily | 15 October 2007 | Staff
Posted on 10/15/2007 9:06:33 PM EDT by shrinkermd
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1911697/posts
How puzzling, then, that the Democrat-led House Foreign Affairs Committee would choose this time to push through a resolution recognizing as genocide the murder of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians at the end of the first World War. We hope the rest of Congress — House and Senate alike — pass on the chance to vote on it. Today’s Turkey, founded on the ashes of the Ottomans, didn’t commit these crimes. We wonder: Will Congress now also condemn our own government for genocide against the American Indians? ...By the way, this isn’t the first time Congress has done this. It voted on similar resolutions in 1975 and in 1984. We’re already on the record.
Unfit for Command
.humanevents.com/ | 10/16/2007 | Patrick J. Buchanan
Posted on 10/16/2007 1:09:34 PM EDT by duckln
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1912000/posts
“That Armenian-Americans wish to have their holocaust recognized is understandable. But that Democrats could not put off that request — for Congress to officially charge Turkey with genocide, 90 years ago — is not.”
Israel braces as US-Turkey crisis erupts
Jerusalem Post | 10-12-07 | HILARY LEILA KRIEGER AND HERB KEINON
Posted on 10/12/2007 10:12:57 AM EDT by SJackson
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1910270/posts
“Ahead of the vote, Turkey had urged Israel to use its influence in Washington to keep the resolution shelved... Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, who was in Israel earlier this week, told The Jerusalem Post in an interview on Monday that not only ties with the US, but also those with Israel, would suffer if the resolution passed... during his visit, Babacan said, ‘All of a sudden the perception in Turkey right now is that the Jewish people - or the Jewish organizations, let’s say - and the Armenian diaspora, the Armenian lobbies, are now hand-in-hand trying to defame Turkey, and trying to condemn Turkey and the Turkish people. This is the unfortunate perception right now in Turkey. So if something goes wrong in Washington, DC, it inevitably will have some influence on relations between Turkey and the US, plus the relations between Turkey and Israel, as well.’ ...Alon Liel, a former director of Israel’s foreign ministry and an expert in Israel-Turkey relations, said the US legislation could ultimately hurt ties between the US and Israel... Many prominent Jewish organizations have cultivated close relationships with Turkey and used their lobbying prowess to push Turkey’s position on Capitol Hill... On Wednesday, the day the US panel voted in favor of the resolution, the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement praising Turkey’s tiny Jewish community for working against the resolution.”
Democrats Find Way to Stop War - Get Soldiers Killed
From Sea to Shining Sea | 10/11/07 | Purple Mountains
Posted on 10/11/2007 11:33:06 AM EDT by PurpleMountains
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1909754/posts
“What’s behind this senseless resolution at this time against a country that is not at all the same country that was defeated in World War I? Is it ignorance of history? Is it total arrogance, or is it a clever attempt to hamstring deliveries of needed supplies to American forces in Iraq and complicate our attempts to keep Turkey from acting militarily against Kurdish militants? It appears that Congressional Democrats have found a way, they think, to get us out of Iraq - get lots more American soldiers killed and cause chaos in the most peaceful area of Iraq.”
Beyond The Usual Limits of Stupidity
10/11/07 | vanity
Posted on 10/11/2007 8:21:35 PM EDT by genefromjersey
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1910018/posts
“My daughter works in a small church as ‘Parish Administrator’... Today, she took part in a survey (things were quiet) conducted by a woman who spoke fluent, colloquial American English, but was otherwise clueless... Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is and was a long time supporter of this resolution, according to the Associated Press. I wonder -as the Turkish Ambassador to the United States flies home for consultations with his government - if Senator Pelosi would care to share with us why this poisonous resolution is in the national interest?”
[oops, older one to above]
When Amateurs Make Foreign Policy
IBD | October 12, 2007
Posted on 10/13/2007 12:14:10 AM EDT by Kaslin
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1910638/posts
Timing of genocide resolution questioned
cnn
Posted on 10/12/2007 5:06:01 PM EDT by tomnbeverly
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1910475/posts
Military Seeks Alternatives in Case Turkey Limits Access
New York Times | Oct. 12 2007 | David S. Cloud
Posted on 10/12/2007 7:46:19 PM EDT by Dubya
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1910536/posts
http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/ww1/1915b.html
http://net.lib.byu.edu/~rdh7/wwi/1915/bryce/a16.htm
http://www.janfedayi.com/Andranik/
http://www.mosinnagant.net/global%20mosin%20nagants/Turk-Mosins.asp
http://www.ataa.org/reference/1915-carthy.html
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20071010/tpl-uk-turkey-usa-armenians-factbox-43a8d4f_1.html
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