LIVES LOST VS. LIVES AT STAKE

Palm Beach Post, FL
Oct 21 2007

>From the beginning, the hundreds of thousands of Armenians who
were exterminated in 1915 by the Turk-led Ottoman Empire have been
geopolitical pawns. "The Armenian massacres provided useful and
effective propaganda for the Allied Powers," notes David Fromkin in
A Peace To End All Peace.

Whatever solace the victims’ descendants find in that contribution
to the Ottoman and German defeat in World War I, it falls short of
a full and honest historical reckoning. A modern admission that the
Turks committed genocide would be more satisfying. But that reckoning
will have to wait at least a little longer.

Turkey is a key ally in the war in Iraq. Even such vociferous
war critics as U.S. Reps. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach, and Alcee
Hastings, D-Miramar, have counseled the House not to approve at this
time a resolution recognizing the genocide for what it is. "I think
America can ill afford to lose our ally, Turkey, at this critical
juncture," Rep. Wexler said. "We have 165,000 troops in Iraq, and
about 70 percent of our support for those troops goes through Turkish
airspace or Turkish ports."

It would be easy to criticize Reps. Wexler and Hastings for making
"practical" arguments about genocide. And even though modern Turkey
did not carry out the massacres, Turkey seems in denial about 1915.

But American lives are on the line today in Iraq. Reps. Wexler
and Hastings made what presents itself regularly in Washington –
an uncomfortable but necessary choice.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress