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Oct. 11th, 2007
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Timing is everything...
Oct. 11th, 2007 01:07 pm...and therefore, in a blatant disregard for all foreign policy consequences
No one is saying that what happened to Armenians doesn't matter. But this is foreign policy which is supposed to be driven by practicalities and common sense, not idealism and populism. Do we really need Turkey to start a war with the Kurds now? Do we want to lose our bases in Turkey now, with a war on? No. That House statement is simply not worth it.
Goes to show that lack of common sense knows no party boundaries.
And check this out:
How fascinating. When it's Bush -- it's arm twisting and lack of justice, but President Clinton did exactly the same thing - and not a word.
Fucking partisan politics will be the end of this country one day.
P.S. ”For if we hope to stop future genocides we need to admit to those horrific acts of the past.” -- what nonsensical garbage. How is admitting old genocide helping prevent future ones? They must think we're all dummies. We admit genocides to make a record of their happening for moral and historical reasons, nothing more. Genocide always was and always will be a sad part of human existence, and no admittance or denial is going to change said fact.
The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee approved a resolution branding the [Armenian] killings genocide -- a charge Turkey hotly denies. The resolution was proposed by a politician with many Armenian-Americans in his district.This is exactly what we need right now. Iraq is cracking at its seems, the entire Middle East hates us to death, and our idiot friends in the House, driven by a miniscule local agenda of some guy with "Armenian-Americans in his district" (read -- simple populism), decide to royally piss off Turkey -- one of our few (an uneasy) allies in that part of the world.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20071011/tpl-uk-turkey-iraq-43a8d4f_5.html
No one is saying that what happened to Armenians doesn't matter. But this is foreign policy which is supposed to be driven by practicalities and common sense, not idealism and populism. Do we really need Turkey to start a war with the Kurds now? Do we want to lose our bases in Turkey now, with a war on? No. That House statement is simply not worth it.
Goes to show that lack of common sense knows no party boundaries.
And check this out:
Backers of the resolution said Congressional action was overdue.
“Despite President George Bush twisting arms and making deals, justice prevailed,” said Representative Brad Sherman, a Democrat of California and a sponsor of the resolution. ”For if we hope to stop future genocides we need to admit to those horrific acts of the past.”
[...]
When the issue last arose, in 2000, a similar resolution also won approval by a House committee, but President Clinton then succeeded in persuading a Republican speaker, J. Dennis Hastert, to withdraw the measure before the full House could vote. That time, too, Turkey had warned of canceling arms deals and withdrawing support for American air forces then patrolling northern Iraq under the auspices of the United Nations.
How fascinating. When it's Bush -- it's arm twisting and lack of justice, but President Clinton did exactly the same thing - and not a word.
Fucking partisan politics will be the end of this country one day.
P.S. ”For if we hope to stop future genocides we need to admit to those horrific acts of the past.” -- what nonsensical garbage. How is admitting old genocide helping prevent future ones? They must think we're all dummies. We admit genocides to make a record of their happening for moral and historical reasons, nothing more. Genocide always was and always will be a sad part of human existence, and no admittance or denial is going to change said fact.