Hellenic News of America
Dec 29 2004
Op-Ed
The Next Four Years
By Gene Rossides
The next four years will be difficult regarding foreign policy issues
of special concern to Greek Americans for several reasons
First, and foremost, is the fact that President George W. Bush has
retained in his administration the key figures in foreign policy who
have demonstrated a pro-Turkish and anti-Greek and Cyprus bias to the
detriment of U.S. relations with Greece and Cyprus.
Who are the persons in the Bush administration responsible for the
U.S. double standard on the rule of law to Turkey and the U.S.
appeasement of Turkey at the expense of U.S. relations with Greece
and Cyprus?
Leading the pack in the first Bush administration was Deputy
Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz. President Bushʼs decision
to retain Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld means that Mr. Wolfowitz
stays on as Deputy Secretary.
As is well known, Mr. Wolfowitz was the key architect of the war on
Iraq, misleading the American people on the issue of whether the
Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (WMD),
and thereby also weakening the U.S. worldwide effort on the war on
international terrorism aimed at the U.S. He also led the effort to
equate Palestinian violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with
international terrorism aimed at the U.S.
What is not well-known are the misleading statements and outright
lies and falsehoods by Mr. Wolfowitz regarding Turkey. A joint letter
from Armenian, Kurdish and Greek American organizations to President
Bush dated September 4, 2002 detailed Mr. Wolfowitzʼs `false and
misleading statements with serious errors of fact and omission of
Orwellian proportions’ regarding Turkey and (1) Cyprus; (2) human
rights; (3) reliability as an ally; (4) self-reliance; (5) Ataturk;
(6) democracy; (7) the Persian Gulf War of 1991; (8) Turkey and the
Jews; (9) NATO; and (10) its Kurdish minority.
The signatories to that letter were James F. Dimitriou, Supreme
President of AHEPA; Ted Spyropoulos, President, Hellenic American
National Committee; Aram Hamparian, Executive Director, Armenian
National Committee; Kani Xulam, Director, American Kurdish
Information Network; Theodora S. Hancock, Co-Founder, Hellenic
American Womenʼs Council; and me for the American Hellenic
Institute.
Mr. Douglas Feith, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, also
remains at his important position in the Defense Department. Mr.
Feith, a former registered foreign agent for Turkey from 1989 to
1994, served as the principal for International Advisors, Inc. (IAI),
the registered foreign agent for Turkey. Mr. Feith received $60,000
annually and his law firm received over $100,000 in fees. Mr. Feith
has been described by General Tommy Franks as the `dumbest’ man he
ever dealt with.
Mr. Richard Perle, who resigned as Chairman of the Defense Policy
Board for a conflict of interest with his company seeking war related
investments, initiated IAI and negotiated an $800,000 contract for
IAI with Turkey for 1989 and $600,000 for 1990 to 1994. Mr. Perle was
a paid consultant for IAI for Turkey during this period.
When Richard Perle was the Assistant Secretary of Defense for
International Security from 1981-1987 during the Reagan
Administration, he led the successful effort to give massive grant
military aid to Turkey. Mr. Feith was on his staff at the time.
Weapons supplied by the U.S. were used by the Turkish army against
the Kurds from at least 1984 and are being used to the present time.
Over 30,000 innocent Kurds were killed by the Turkish military. The
use of U.S. supplied weapons against the Kurds, which was well-known,
made the U.S. an accessory to the Turkish militaryʼs crimes
against the Kurds. Messrs. Wolfowitz, Perle and Feith bear
responsibility for the policy of arms to Turkey. The killings of
innocent Kurds lie at their doorstep.
In a comprehensive joint report `Arming Repression: U.S. Arms Sales
to Turkey During the Clinton Administration’ (October 1999), the
World Policy Institute and the Federation of American Scientists
documented the U.S. arms trade with Turkey and its harmful effects on
U.S. interests.
Mr. Perle is still active on Turkeyʼs behalf as a fellow at the
American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and appears regularly on TV and
radio interview programs to discuss U.S. foreign polciy.
Messrs. Wolfowitz, Perle and Feith are commonly referred to as
neo-conservatives who advocate an expansive use of force in U.S.
foreign policy including preemptive war. I prefer a different and, I
believe, a more accurate description. Neoconservative implies a new
conservative. None of these three individuals are `conservatives’ in
the classic definition of a political conservative who believes in
fiscal responsibility, limited government, individual liberties,
preservation of what has been proven useful and the use of force as a
last resort.
The definition I prefer as more accurate is `warmonger’ which
Websterʼs dictionary defines as `one who favors or tries to
incite war.’ All three are warmongers and in the case of Messrs.
Perle and Feith they are also war profiteers.
Ms. Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State Designate, has been in the
center of all the foreign policy decisions of President Bush. During
the first Bush administration she was the foreign policy person
closest to the President. She will have a far greater influence on
foreign policy than Secretary of State Colin L. Powell.
Ms. Rice, as National Security Advisor, was involved in the betrayal
of Greece in the administrationʼs unilateral decision to
recognize the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) as the
Republic of Macedonia. The U.S. policy had been that we would use the
name FYROM until Greece and FYROM by negotiations determined a
solution to the name issue. The U.S. broke its pledge. It appears
that a staff member of the NSC proposed the change in policy which
Ms. Rice approved as did the State and Defense Departments.
Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Marc Grossman, is and
has been the main architect of U.S. policy on Greece, Cyprus and
Turkey these past years. His policies towards Greece, Cyprus and
Turkey demonstrate a sharp pro-Turkish and anti-Greece and Cyprus
bias to the detriment of U.S. interests.
I have written extensively and in detail regarding Mr.
Grossmanʼs harmful actions on (1) U.S. relations with Cyprus
over the years and more recently regarding the undemocratic,
unworkable and financially not viable Annan Plan and his attacks on
the Greek Cypriots and President Tassos Papadopoulos for their
opposition to the Annan Plan; (2) his failure to uphold the rule of
law regarding the Aegean Sea boundary and (3) his failure to take
meaningful action to reopen the Halki Patriarchal School of Theology
illegally closed by Turkey in 1971.
Mr. Grossman is a career foreign service officer and there have been
reports that he may retire in 2005. Letʼs hope so.
In a future article I will discuss actions that the Greek American
community can take in the interests of the U.S. to deal with this
situation.
Gene Rossides
President, American Hellenic
Institute and former Assistant
Secretary of the Treasury