TURKEY VULTURES
CNNMoney.com
(Investor’s Business Daily delivered by Newstex)
Oct 16 2007
Politics: We earlier ascribed Congress’ move to declare the Ottoman
Turks’ slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians a genocide to simple
Democratic incompetence. It may, however, be something much darker.
Based on the actions of Democrats in Congress recently, it’s hard not
to think that they actually want the U.S. to lose the war in Iraq —
and will do almost anything to see it happens.
Unfortunately, they’ve run up against these headlines from Iraq in
just the last couple of days: "Al-Qaeda In Iraq Reported Crippled"
(Washington Post), "Shiite Leader Makes Reconciliatory Gesture, Visits
Sunni Anbar Province" (Associated Press), and "Iraq Sees Dramatically
Low Death Toll" (Associated Press).
The U.S. sure seems to be winning. Everywhere you go these days you
see — dare we say it? — good news coming from Iraq.
But as Democratic Majority Whip James Clyburn said two months ago
about positive developments in Iraq, any good news is a "real big
problem for us" — the Democrats that is, not America.
This might explain why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has decided to let
HR 106, a nonbinding resolution that declares the Turkish Ottomans’
murder of Armenians as genocide, to go forward.
The Turks are angered at the intentional insult leveled at them by
Congress for a crime that’s now 92 years old. They’ve threatened to
stop cooperating with the U.S. in Iraq.
That has sent oil prices soaring (yes, you’re paying a "tax" for this
bad policy, whether you think so or not), and created uncertainty
and danger for Iraq’s most peaceful area, the Kurdish north.
Pelosi and her party like to talk about bipartisanship. Well, in
the 1990s, President Clinton faced similar pressure from Congress on
the Armenian genocide. He asked then-Speaker Dennis Hastert, in the
interest of national security, to kill it. Hastert did so, quietly.
Compare that to Pelosi when asked Sunday about the horrible timing
of the resolution: "There’s never been a good time."
Ah, yes. "Never a good time." Pelosi and her pals have trivialized and
impeded America’s defense for almost a year now. Their latest stunt
will hurt our Iraq war effort and cause needless U.S. troop deaths —
while alienating a strong ally in the war on terror.
As former Defense Department official Jed Babbin asked, if the
Democrats are so keen on genocide, why don’t they do something about
Darfur or Burma? Why indeed.
As we’ve noted, 70% of our Iraq supplies are shipped through our base
in Incirlik, Turkey. So is more than a third of our fuel. To say we
badly need Turkish cooperation is an understatement.
Now, not only might they close Incirlik, they might be emboldened
to invade the Iraq’s independent Kurdish region, where separatist
Turkish-Kurdish guerrillas are active.
Democrats have tried desperately to derail the Iraq war — by
voting for "immediate" troop withdrawals, and playing games with
the Pentagon’s budget during a time of war. They called Gen. David
Petraeus a liar. They’ve attacked private sector contractors in Iraq,
like Blackwater and Halliburton. (NYSE:HAL) It didn’t work.
Now, we’re winning the war, and they’re desperate.
Whatever charms their domestic policies might have for you, the
Democrats can’t be trusted with national security. What they’ve done
recently verges on disloyalty at a time of war. We hope voters are
watching, and remember.