TOP ADMIRAL BLASTS GENOCIDE VOTE
By Tom Topousis

New York Post, NY
news/top_admiral_blasts_genocide_vo.htm
Oct 23 2007

October 23, 2007 — The commander of U.S. military forces in Iraq
and Afghanistan yesterday blasted congressional leaders for pushing a
resolution to recognize the Armenian genocide, saying "it just sticks
a knife" in Turkish officials when America needs them most.

Adm. William Fallon, appointed to the helm of the U.S. Central Command
in March, yesterday took a shot at the measure, spearheaded by House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, during a meeting with Post editors who asked
about the prospects of Turkish troops crossing into northern Iraq to
pursue Kurdish rebels.

"I don’t think they really want to do this. But I think they’re really
frustrated," Fallon said of a Turkish military incursion into Iraq.

"And as if they don’t have enough [to worry about], we do things like,
however well-intended, this resolution in the House last week on
Armenian genocide. It just sticks a knife in and just runs it around."

At Pelosi’s urging, the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Oct. 11
passed a resolution formally declaring the deaths of up to 1 million
Armenians at the hands of Turkish troops in 1915 a genocide – a
declaration that has infuriated Turkey.

Despite pressure from the White House to pull the resolution, Pelosi
vowed to put it up for a vote on the floor.

Asked if there could have been any worse timing for the resolution
to move forward, Fallon said, "I’m hard pressed to find it."

Fallon called the mountainous border between Turkey and the
Kurdish-dominated northern Iraq "a tinderbox."

Kurdish rebels who have been waging attacks inside Turkey – which is
home to millions more Kurds – have used northern Iraq as a base of
operations for years. Turkish leaders last week paved the way for an
incursion, but have yet to make the move.

Fallon said he had not spoken directly to Turkish leaders about their
anger over the resolution, "but I certainly got it indirectly."

"It’s pretty obviously going to tick them off," he added.

Turkey provides crucial supply routes into northern Iraq for
U.S. forces, as well as air bases and fly-over routes for military
aircraft.

Furthermore, northern Iraq is one of the few sections of the country
that has been relatively peaceful, with new economic development.

After the House committee’s vote, Turkish leaders in Ankara hinted at
withdrawing their support for U.S. military operations in Iraq. And
now Democrats appear to be abandoning their support for the resolution.