BUSH, PELOSI, AND CONGRESS: DUMB AND DUMBER
William Cormier

opednews, PA

Oct 15 2007

If you support the Democrats and are a Liberal or Progressive, I
suppose that many people are giving Nancy Pelosi some breathing room
in the hopes that she will see the light and put impeachment "back on
the table", but after reading this story and the subsequent fallout
from Turkey, a NATO ally and a country that plays an important role
in Bush’s War in Iraq – I’m convinced Pelosi is an abject failure
as the Speaker of The House, and because of her decision to "take
impeachment off the table", many of "we the people" believe she has
taken it upon herself to make a decision that is contrary to the
will of the people that voted the Democrats into power. To state
that Turkey played an important role in the logistics of supplying
our troops and a host of other activities beneficial to the United
States would be an understatement. The loss of Turkey as an ally,
the use of their air space, the intricate and important aid they
provide to resupply our troops in Iraq, if lost, will be extremely
expensive as the U.S. scrambles to make other arrangements.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that she
intends to move ahead with a vote on a resolution that labels the
deaths of more than a million Armenians during World War I as genocide.

The resolution has strained U.S. relations with Turkey and drawn
criticism from the Bush administration.

"This resolution is one that is consistent with what our government
has always said about … what happened at that time," Pelosi said
on ABC’s "This Week."

When asked about criticism that it could harm relations with Turkey – a
key ally in the war in Iraq and a fellow member of NATO – Pelosi said,
"There’s never been a good time," adding that it is important to pass
the resolution now "because many of the survivors are very old."

When asked about criticism that it could harm relations with Turkey – a
key ally in the war in Iraq and a fellow member of NATO – Pelosi said,
"There’s never been a good time," adding that it is important to pass
the resolution now "because many of the survivors are very old."

"When I came to Congress 20 years ago, it wasn’t the right time
because of the Soviet Union. Then that fell, and then it wasn’t the
right time because of the Gulf War One. And then it wasn’t the right
time because of overflights of Iraq. And now it’s not the right time
because of Gulf War Two.

At this point it probably appears that I’m backing Bush’s stance on
the issue, and to a large degree, on this one narrow issue I am, but
not for Bush’s stated reasons. I stand as one of Bush and Cheney’s most
out-spoken critics, however, when we have thousands of U.S. troops in
harms way and we’re engaged in a war on two fronts – supporting Bush
isn’t the issue; the issue is timing, strategy, the safety and welfare
of our troops and common-sense, something Pelosi and the rest of the
numskull Congress whom support this measure are severely lacking!

My argument is that the Bill should have never been allowed to be
introduced at this particular time in history. I understand this
will not go over well in the Armenian community, and especially
those that support this Bill – however, the timing is awful, no
one evidently thought about the consequences of pushing through a
Bill like this while Middle-East tensions are rising by the day, and
whether we agree with Bush or not, common-sense issues demand answers
that are appropriate, not irresponsible and hamper our efforts to
soothe temperaments throughout a region that is volatile and ready
into explode into chaos. Throwing fuel on the fire is irresponsible
and contrary to our best interests; No, I’m not giving Turkey a pass
because we desperately need their continued help and assistance –
I’m simply stating that this is a matter that can be dealt with at a
later date, and the introduction of this Bill when Congress is aware
of Turkey’s importance in a two-front war smacks of rank incompetence
on the part of Pelosi and those that introduced the Bill.

Ask yourselves this: Speaker Pelosi stated that "There’s never been
a good time," – "and it wasn’t the right time because of the Soviet
Union. Then that fell, and then it wasn’t the right time because of the
Gulf War One. And then it wasn’t the right time because of overflights
of Iraq." Is it the right time when we’re in the middle of a conflict
in Iraq and Afghanistan, and war with Iran is a real possibility in
the very near future? As we lose allies that once supported us in
Iraq, is it time to lose another ally, this time one as important as
Turkey? Just because we needed to make a statement – and then chose
the worst possible time to even allow it to be brought-up on the
House Floor!

There are serious matters that this Congress should be concerned
with, and halting our rapid decent into fascism and reigning-in a
rogue President should trump any agenda that is not specifically
geared toward the peoples effort to halt the Iraq War and return
our country to its Constitutional requirements and beliefs. This is
legislation that is ill-timed, and if anything, is designed to cause
Bush even more trouble as we mobilize as a nation to rid ourselves
of the tyrants that have squatted in the White House.

Democrats in Congress, instead of listening to the lobbyists and
special interest groups, should listen to those few courageous
Democrats that are attempting to represent the people, not the wealthy
and corporate America. Look at what Dennis Kucinich said on Oct 12,
2007, in a speech to Congresso:

Now the people in the Administration of George Bush better remember
their Miranda rights, because when I’m elected President I’m going
to see that they are arrested. I’m not kidding here! I want to let
you to know something; how I feel about what’s happened to our country.

We have been led into a war based upon lies – an unjust a war. We’ve
seen our civil liberties taken away because of lies. The President,
the Vice President, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of
Defense are all part of this. They’re going to be held accountable
under the law. If someone runs a traffic light, they’ll get a ticket
here. There are a million dead Iraqis and almost 4,000 dead American
soldiers as a result of this war. Where is the accountability? What’s
happened is that our constitution is being torn up. MORE

It’s refreshing to know there are a few Democrats with a sense of what
needs to be done to clean-up Washington and attempt to salvage our
good name, bring home our troops, and work to reinvigorate America
from within and rebuild our shattered economy.

Even the Turkish military are stating we "shot ourselves in the foot"
– and I imagine the rest of the world is viewing our Congress with
the same disdain they do President Bush:

Turkey Lashes Out at U.S. Lawmakers for Armenian ‘Genocide’ Measure

Turkey criticized U.S. lawmakers and recalled its ambassador after a
House panel voted to approve a measure that recognizes the killings
of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I as "genocide." A
congressman and a former U.S. diplomat explain the issues at hand.

KWAME HOLMAN: In Turkey today, there were street protests decrying
a vote by a committee of the U.S. Congress. That vote labeled as
"genocide" the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in the
early 20th century.

Turkish politicians joined demonstrators in Istanbul, denouncing
the vote of American politicians. Erkan Onsel is vice president of
Turkey’s Labor Party.

ERKAN ONSEL, Vice President, Turkish Labor Party (through translator):
The United States of America legitimized the Armenian genocide claim,
which has swung over Turkey’s head like a stick and which has posed
a threat to Turkey for years. The U.S. has made it clear once again
that it targets Turkey. MORE

It’s time to shed the partisanship and see our Congress work together
to solve the many important issues that face our country. I have never
stated that the issue of what happened in World War I should be off
the agenda forever, but to push for legislation that is detrimental
to our war effort, whether it’s legal or we like it or not has to
be transcended by the need to insure that our troops receive their
supplies, ammo, and necessities in a timely manner, and it’s not the
time to make other arrangements that will be costlier to the US,
and quite literally, the added expense will eventually be another
burden passed-on to the American taxpayer, notwithstanding the danger
to the troops if a conflict arises in Iran.