Posted on 10/15/2007 1:27:52 PM PDT by Dane
October 15, 2007 11:45 AM
Grandstanding Has Consequences It’s amateur hour in Congress.
By Michael Rubin
Last week, a congressional committee passed a resolution condemning the Armenian genocide. There is no doubt that up to a million Armenians died during World War I, although historians still debate whether their deaths constitute deliberate genocide or are collateral casualties of war.
House Democrats brought the resolution to a vote despite entreaties from the White House to postpone it. For Congress, though, the resolution was less about rectifying history than grandstanding. House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Lantos (D., Cal.) called a vote. It passed. 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.
Unfortunately, grandstanding has consequences. Turkey recalled its ambassador; and now the State Department finds itself now devoid of leverage to prevent a Turkish incursion into Iraq to fight Kurdish terrorists. Pelosi’s posturing has put U.S. use of the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey to supply our forces both in Afghanistan and Iraq in jeopardy.
If only the Armenian Genocide resolution was an isolated event. It’s amateur hour in Congress. The efforts of Sen. Joseph Biden (D., Del.) to divide Iraq on ethnic and religious grounds threaten to spark civil war just as U.S. servicemen make inroads in preventing it. Biden’s motivation may be to garner media attention. He has succeeded. The problem, though, his statements get more airtime in Iran and Iraq, where revolutionary mullahs use his pronouncements to convince Iraqis that U.S. forces seek to destroy Iraq rather than rebuild it.
The list goes on. In May 2006, Rep. Jack Murtha (D., Pa.) said that U.S. Marines executed Iraqis “in cold blood.” Overnight, his clip became an Al-Jazeera favorite. Islamist terrorists used Murtha’s words to justify their murder of Americans. Now, a court martial has dismissed murder charges against the servicemen Murtha accused; Murtha has yet to apologize.
Other congressmen see intelligence briefings as an ala carte menu for chest-thumbing leaks than part of confidential oversight duties. Every leak splashed across a New York Times undercuts the war on terror.
Junkets also have a cost. Basking in the glow of Pelosi’s headline-garnering visit to Damascus — again in contravention of a State Department request — Syrian leader Bashar al-Asad upgraded his support for Hezbollah and his nuclear dealings with North Korea.
The resolution, while important to the Armenian-American community — perhaps less so to Armenians living in Armenia who worry much more about economic development — also raises a host of questions about how Congress picks and chooses which atrocities to weigh in on. While Condoleezza Rice seeks to bring Beijing on board with Iran sanctions — a Herculean if not impossible task — will the House Foreign Affairs Committee condemn Beijing for the millions who perished during the Cultural Revolution? Their murders — politically motivated and, as far as the historical record is concerned, far more deliberate and coordinated — also occurred much more recently. Perhaps the House Foreign Affairs Committee will also act to bring Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Masud Barzani to justice for ordering the disappearance and summary executions of perhaps 3,000 Kurds during the 1994-1997 Kurdish civil war. This is not to suggest that such cases should not be pursued. But, the House Foreign Affairs Committee is not the place to pursue such historical investigations; universities are.
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. There’s no time for amateur hour. As U.S. 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.
— Michael Rubin, editor of the Middle East Quarterly, is resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
We did this twice before - why did we need another one? Because it would harm our troops and our efforts to combat terrorism overseas rather than here .... I wonder what those Dem’s would say/do when a school or mall here is bombed .....
PALAMINO!... PALAMINO!!!
I plugged that one into Wikipedia. Wow!
A 'Rat, of course...
Need to find another pubie homo to throw them off track.
Well, the Representative who quietly does his or her job loses the next election to a chest-thumping braggart, so what does that say about the American voter? ;)
Pelosi.Biden and Murtha are all idiots..They should stop and think about all the American and Iraqi and Afghan lives they have cost by their treasonous statements.
Where is the US resolution condemning Britain for allowing slavery to exist in the colonies for 150+ years?
What about the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia and the displaced Azeris?
I do not necessarily disagree with what you say.
I would like to use this opportunity to say again to all, there is ample proof that Germany was a part of it. One source is 'German Responsibility in the Armenian Genocide: A Review of the Historical Evidence of German Complicity' by Vahakn N. Dadrian.
Why exclude them from Resolution 106? Hey! Nasty, and Dingy, It's a chance to piss off another ally! Go for it.!
Treason comes to mind!
the lib/dem traitors could help the US lose in iraq by their stupidity...
the lib/dems hate bush more than they love their country...
they are nothing but pathetic pukes!!!!
Pelosi’s Cowboy diplomacy — Is this what Hillary Matters meant when she said she would stop cowboy diplomacy?
Or is this just a real sign of “hate blinds”?
The Pubbies should ride Pelosi’s momentum and introduce a resolution condemning Castro.
Intelligent people do not do these egregious and dangerous types of things only to selfishly garner headlines and publicity. They aren't amateurs. They are very experienced and practiced at this deliberate treachery. They do it to achieve exactly the effects that result from such actions. If that were not the case, they would apologize and stop that type of behavior when they see the outcome of their actions.
I, for one, am sick and tired of them, and their cohorts and minions who aid them, not being called out and made to accept and answer to the consequences of their actions.
Reasonable people can come together and discuss issues in private that are likely to cause harm if discussed publicly. The fact that they seek to discuss them publicly in the face of earnest requests to not do so, and warnings about the damage that can result, indicates to me that they have gone beyond mere disagreement about policy into aiding and abetting the enemies of our country. They have become the enemy within, because foreign enemies would not be able to accomplish some of the things they do without their help.
Once is a mistake, persistence in doing the same thing over and over again establishes a pattern.
That’s nonsense. This whole issue is much more complicated. Which peoples were where and how they were forced out is difficult to determine accurately. The Turks were the winners in the deaths of millions. They also just so happened to be in power.
Guilty of genocide? I think so. You may disagree. However, arguing that question (and then blurring one event with another 100 years later) confuses the issue at hand:
Should the House pass this resolution?
I don’t think they should *ever* pass resolutions concerning such events. As has been stated before, if congress passes a resolution saying the Earth is flat, does that make it so?
It’s *pointless*. But it’s just as pointless to argue that it shouldn’t be passed because there was no genocide. That concedes congress should consider the question.
Considering the question in congress is pure nonsense.
The sheeple thought that unprincipled Republicans needed a lesson. They were right about that, but underestimated the cost of teaching that lesson.
That said, they still don’t trust the leftist traitors with national security.
Nancy lied. People have died.
That's inaccurate. I know the Armenian website that quote comes from, and it's not accurate with regards to Ataturk. A large majority of historians, including those who call the events genocide, will not blame Ataturk for it. The blame lies with the Ottoman leaders and the Young Turks movement, not Ataturk's government, which wasn't formed until late 1923.
That's why the House resolution technically condemns the Ottoman Empire, not Turkey, which wasn't created until almost 1924 by Ataturk.
Wasn't my attempt, however I did want to suggest that Armenians are not perfect angels.
The author mentioned other atrocities such as the KDP - PUK atrocities and of course the tens of millions killed off in Red China. Of course they are also in the past.
There are today plenty of active atrocities some relatively minor (very minor! compared to the Armenian genocide, of course) such as the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh or as the Armenians call it, Artsakh
Let Congress consider the ongoing problems first, I'm OK with Congress doing these things. Often they have to be pushed and pushed until they do a relatively honest job. Ruby Ridge and Waco are two examples of that.
I don't know anyone who thinks that the damage that Resolution 106 does to our Iraqi war efforts is worth considering a 90-year-old atrocity now; anyone that is except for some Armenia-supporter callers to radio shows saying that they gotta have it now, can't wait any longer.
Speaking strictly of Armenian genocide condemnation, Mr. Harut Sassounian author, publisher, and prominent activist promoting Armenian issues and causes has stated that Resolution 106 is secondary. Mr. Sassounian helped set up last summer's USC Institute of Armenian Studies sponsored-symposium on International Law & the Armenian Genocide: Recognition, Responsibility & Restitution.
The most important thing now, you see, is litigation. That's what this is all about from the Armenia and Armenian Diaspora living here point of view; our national security be damned, their saying. IMO.
The Germany I mentioned was of course the Kaiser's Germany allied with the Ottoman Turks.
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