BUSH RIGHT ON TIBET; PELOSI WRONG ON TURKEY
Wheeling News Register, WV
Oct 19 2007
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has ignited a firestorm with
her push for Congress to approve a resolution condemning the World
War I-era massacre of hundreds of thousands of Armenians in Turkey.
The killings occurred nearly a century ago at a time when Turkey was
not ruled by the comparatively tolerant government it has now.
Pelosi’s move angers Turks, who are key U.S. allies, unnecessarily.
But President Bush now is being criticized because he has questioned
the wisdom of Pelosi’s action – while angering China by praising the
Dalai Lama. His action is hypocritical, claim critics.
No, it is not. Pelosi’s resolution has nothing to do with the present –
other than, again, to anger Turks. But the Dalai Lama is a symbol of
Tibetans’ desire for freedom, which is being denied them right now
by the Chinese government.
That was then, this is now, in other words. Pelosi’s resolution can
accomplish nothing worthwhile – while Bush’s support of the Dalai
Lama may help pressure the Chinese to ease up on repression in Tibet.
Bush’s critics either can’t understand that – or don’t want to do so.
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