PELOSI STUMBLES OVER ARMENIAN RESOLUTION
By Dan K. Thomasson

Seattle Post Intelligencer , WA
Oct 16 2007

It is not unusual for members of Congress to put their own political
welfare above the nation’s interests. It happens all the time to
one degree or another. But every time it occurs, it punctuates the
fallibility of the system.

Take the current brouhaha over a congressional resolution that would
declare 92 years after the fact that the death of a million Armenians
at the hands of what was then the Ottoman Empire was genocide, as if
anyone who was aware of the 1915 slaughter had any doubts about it.

After all, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a
sure bet it’s a duck. But what might seem like a harmless gesture to
appease Armenian Americans by officially declaring it so all these
decades later is threatening to cause a serious break in relations
with Turkey, an ally we can’t afford to lose.

One expects the Speaker of the House to be far more responsible,
particularly when it comes to dealing with irresponsible, emotional
demands of constituents. But what Nancy Pelosi seems to have forgotten
is that her position makes her the next in line to be president of
the United States after the vice president and that at times that may
require putting the national interests ahead of political expediency
no matter how many Armenian Americans are in her district.

So ignoring the possible consequences of a diplomatic break, which
both Turkish and U.S. authorities warn is a real possibility, Pelosi
has allowed the politically mischievous resolution to be voted out
of committee and has further inflamed the situation by promising
the issue would be taken up by the full House. The result of this,
among other things, has been to increase the possibility of a Turkish
invasion of Northern Iraq to quell Kurdish separatists who Turks
regard as terrorists and the cutting off of vital supply lines and
bases for U.S. troops.

Short of calling for actual reparations to the descendents of the
1915 victims at the threat of bombing Istanbul and sending a nasty
letter to every Turk over there and here, Pelosi and the resolution’s
sponsors couldn’t have done more to undercut American interests.

Nothing apparently said by a desperate White House backed up by the
last nine secretaries of state has so far been able to dissuade the
speaker who came to the high office promising to quell the incivility
of a place that often more resembles a juvenile detention center than
a legislature. Well, how does one spell bipartisanship now that it is
needed. No wonder the only approval rating lower than Bush’s belongs
to Congress.

Even if the process were halted now, experts believe, the committee
vote alone has caused severe harm to relations between the two
countries. There are, they say, enormous hard feelings among Turks who
increasingly believe that the United States is a one-way ally. As a
result U.S. influence over actions that could be devastating to this
nation’s interests has diminished dramatically. Prime Minister Tayyip
Erdogan already is taking considerable heat from his own military over
what is seen as acquiescence to Washington over the Kurdish situation
and now he faces a public that is enormously angry over the genocide
resolution. A recent poll shows that Turks are more and more hostile
toward the United States.

What seems terribly disappointing here is that the speaker’s extreme
partisanship continues to pervade the atmosphere in the House. She
cut her teeth on the partisan ward politics of Baltimore where her
father was mayor and has shown that side of her nature throughout her
congressional career, especially when she was Democratic leader before
ascending to House Speaker. If ever there were a time to put that
aside, it is now. She is a smart, capable politician who certainly
knows the consequences of such an irresponsible action.

That is why it seems inconceivable that she would allow it to go
forward. The only explanation seems to be that she is concerned about
her own reelection in an extremely liberal district where there is
a strong Armenian American presence. Her inability to change the
direction of the war in Iraq has been criticized by liberals. Her
San Francisco opponent is Cindy Sheehan, the antiwar activist whose
son was killed in Iraq, and whose shrill campaigning has made some
inroads on Pelosi’s popularity.

Even if that is her worry, it is time for her and those with similar
concerns to dump this resolution in the Potomac and pray it is not
too late to put things right with a much -needed ally. Hopefully,
there are a few statesmen left in Congress.

Dan K. Thomasson is former editor of the Scripps Howard News Service.