Armenian Genocide Resolution - Rethought
A lot of ink and pixels are being spilled over the US Congress’ resolution to label the killings of the Armenians under the Ottoman Empire genocide. And its not about the killings, but about the timing.
This obviously isn’t good timing. Good timing would have been, oh, about 90 years ago. Why it wasn’t recognized then, and why it still hasn’t been, is a really good question in its own right. And the Turks don’t help their case much by making it a criminal offense to call the killings genocide
I still think the matter should be decided on the facts of the case, and the facts don’t look too good for the Ottoman Empire. That said, I’m pragmatic enough to realize, after some thought, that pushing to pass the resolution now probably isn’t the best choice the Democratic leadership could have made.
The storyline going out is that the Democrats are using this resolution to purposely harm US-Turkish relations in the hopes that Turkey will stop allowing the US to use its airbases for logistical support of the Iraq War, and therefore increase the pressure on President Bush to withdraw American forces. I doubt its accurate, but it sounds just plausible enough that a good number of people will buy it.
Let’s be clear, the reasons why the US-Turkish relations are strained go far beyond this little resolution. The vote by the Turkish parliament denying the Americans a northern front during their invasion was met less than diplomatically by the Bush administration, and the last four years of giving Kurdish terrorists free reign in Northern Iraq to launch cross-border attacks, amongst other actions and inactions, hasn’t exactly made the US a popular nation amongst Turks. The success of “Valley of the Wolves” should be proof enough of that.
The genocide resolution has been described as the “last straw”, and it may very well be. Still, let's not confuse the straw with the load the Bush administration has already piled up there. If the Turks use this to pull their support or launch a cross-border invasion of Iraqi Kurdistan, it will be the excuse, not the reason.
However, the Republicans will make sure to say it’s the reason. After all, they need to find a way to blame the loss of Iraq on the Democrats. What doesn’t make sense about this is why the Democrats have decided to help them with their revisionist writing.
At the very least, the Democratic leadership seems to be doing their level best to screw themselves over politically. They lie down and let themselves get steam-rolled by the White House for things Americans would really like them to fight for, like the FISA authorizations, or measures to give troops sufficient leave, to impose deadlines on the mission, or to just stop giving Bush every penny he asks for without any restrictions. Instead, they’ve decided to battle the White House on a resolution that means almost nothing after all this time, has little to no popular support, and will give Republicans plenty of ammunition to use against them regarding the eventual failure of the Iraq War.
Now, if the Democratic leadership backs down, they look weak. If they go forward, they’ve put American troops at risk. You almost think they like to lose elections.
