GENOCIDE RESOLUTION HARMFUL
Altoona Mirror, PA
Oct 18 2007
Congress should be looking to solve problems, not cause them.
But that’s exactly what some Democratic leaders are trying to do
with a proposed resolution labeling the killing of up to 1.5 million
Armenians by Ottoman Turks, nearly a century ago, as genocide.
The resolution is a rebuke for Turkey, a key U.S. ally and a primary
supply route for U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Turkey denies the
killings were genocide and say they were the result of civil unrest.
The killing of the Armenians was a horrible event, but it happened in
1915. Why bring it up now – except to cause problems? It’s not like
this is an ongoing situation, in which action can make a difference
or save lives.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pushing the resolution, despite the
requests of President Bush, and some of her normal allies, including
U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-12th District. Murtha told The Associated
Press he believes the resolution could harm U.S. relations with Turkey
and our strategic interests in the region.
The resolution also could put our troops in Iraq in added danger if
it results in the interruption of normal supply routes. That could
mean delays of needed equipment, including vehicles designed to better
withstand IED attacks.
It’s difficult to see how the genocide resolution accomplishes anything
other than sabotaging our war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s
a high price to pay for a resolution that might not even warrant a
footnote in history books a century from now.
The United States has many pressing issues – the future of Social
Security, food contamination, safety of imports, loss of manufacturing,
the economy and more – that will affect the lives of Americans today
and in our future.
Congress should be focusing on them, not trying to insult an ally
about something that happened in World War I.
If congressional leaders cannot come up with better things to devote
time to than the 1915 genocide resolution, the wrong people are
in office.
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