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Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Why? And Why Now?

The US Congress will quite possibly be voting on a non-binding resolution defining the Ottoman Empire's massacre of Armenians back in 1915 as an act of genocide. The House resolution has been pushed by majority leader Nancy Pelosi.

This, from the party that labeled President Bush as a diplomatic "miserable failure."

This resolution will solve nothing, and will, in fact, cause many a problem for the US military. It appears that the resolution is a response to Turkey's move toward taking military action in Iraq to put down Kurdish rebels. However, in a foreign policy sense, it is the textbook definition of a stupid bonehead maneuver.

President Bush has been trying to deal with the Turkey situation diplomatically, and this resolution will effectively undermine the administration's efforts, as well as damaging the US war effort in Iraq and possibly put our troops in greater danger - Turkey is a significant element of the US military supply chain into Iraq, and the Turkish government has stated that if this resolution is passed, that supply route will be closed.

As news about this resolution and Turkey's response has gotten out, liberal congressmen have moved to distance themselves from the resolution. It now looks like the resolution will not pass a Congressional vote. One has to ask, however: have the Dems moved away from this because it's wrong, or because they know there will be political backlash for their meddling in foreign policy?

UPDATE:
Well, Pelosi has apparently caved under pressure and is backing off from the Turkey resolution, probably because it had no chance of passing. Of course, if she had any sense at all she would've either proposed this resolution long ago, or sat on her hands and waited until Turkey, our ally in the war on terror, was not of such strategic importance.

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