U.S. CONGRESS COMES UP WITH A DANGEROUS FOREIGN-POLICY TURKEY
By Cal Thomas
Salt Lake Tribune, Utah
Oct 18 2007
Just as it appears the United States may have turned an important
corner in Iraq with the reported disabling of al-Qaida, Turkey is
threatening to invade northern Iraq in an attempt to stop attacks by
Kurdish rebels on Turkish territory.
House Democrats added fuel to the combustible situation when the
House Foreign Affairs Committee on Oct. 10 passed a resolution that
recognizes as genocide the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman
Empire during World War I. The resolution is opposed by the Bush
administration, not necessarily because it disagrees that genocide
occurred nearly a century ago, but because such a resolution will
inflame passions at a time when there are passions enough in the
neighborhood.
Democrats, who control Congress, are playing a dangerous game that
might severely damage America’s foreign policy, further diminish
President Bush, hand over a weakened presidency to his successor
and put more of our troops in jeopardy. That reality apparently
began to reach the Democratic congressional leadership by midweek,
as supporters of the resolution began a retreat and senior Democrats
urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to drop her support for the measure.
Since Saddam Hussein was toppled from power, Turkey has been
threatening to invade northern Iraq to settle old scores. Turkey has
the provocation it believes it needs in the killing of 30 Turkish
soldiers and civilians by members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party,
known as the PKK, in just the last two weeks.
Writing in the publication Insight, Gallia Lindenstrauss notes,
"(Turkish) President Abdullah Gul accused American politicians of
sacrificing big issues for petty games of domestic politics." That
sounds about right. Are Democrats so cynical that they would stir an
already boiling pot in hopes that it would negate whatever success
America may finally be having in quelling terrorist acts in Iraq? One
would hope that is not the case, but given their leadership’s rhetoric
about the war already being lost and their refusal to acknowledge even
the slightest progress in Iraq as positive lest it reflect well on
the Bush administration, cynicism about their cynical actions might
be justified.
If Turkey will not be dissuaded from entering Iraq to root out the
rebels, the Bush administration might consider helping the Turks do the
job quickly and as painlessly as possible so that they might hastily
return to their side of the border. If the Kurds wish to continue
with their prosperous and more peaceful lifestyles, they will help
locate and expunge the rebels among them. The last thing the region
needs is to inflame Islamic fundamentalists, who, despite tensions
that have long threatened to topple Ankara’s secular government,
have so far managed to peacefully coexist with moderate Muslims,
as well as secularists.
A senior commander of the rebel group, Duran Kalkan, was quoted in
an Associated Press story as saying the Turkish military will suffer
a serious blow if it launches a cross-border offensive and would be
"bogged down in a quagmire."
Another quagmire is precisely what is not needed in Iraq. Oil prices,
which have increased in recent days in anticipation of Turkish military
action, would go even higher should another front be opened in Iraq.
There should be no rush to condemn a genocide that took place more
than nine decades ago (and the very word "genocide" is in dispute
as a description of what happened). Politically it might play well
for Democrats, but it could backfire and have severe repercussions
for American foreign policy, American forces in Iraq (supply lines
could be disrupted) and American interests in Iraq and throughout the
region for years to come. The next president cannot possibly enjoy
long-term benefits from such shortsightedness by House Democrats.
Whatever immediate political gain Democrats might hope to extract
from this misguided and ill-timed resolution will be overcome by the
long-term pain it generates. Apparently there are limits beyond which
even Democrats are not willing to go in their pursuit of political
gain. There are some issues that ought to transcend partisanship and
this is one of them.
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