US to debate Turkey genocide bill
The BBC describes yet another attempt by the US Congress to put a large caliber hole in the nation's collective foot here. Are these so-called national leaders of America ever going to "get it"? Turks are already torn by the calls of Western secular culture and those of their Islamic "brethern." The EU delays over admission have given the Turks pause when considering who their friends really are. Let's just give them another reason to join up with the Islamists.
Quote:
A key US congressional committee is to debate whether to classify as genocide the deaths of 1.5 million Ottoman Armenians between 1915 and 1917.
Turkey - which strongly denies Armenian claims that the killings amounted to genocide - has warned of "serious consequences" if the bill is passed.
Ankara has threatened to restrict US access to a key military base used for its operations in Iraq.
They're Not Real Bright, But They Do Catch On Eventually....
Initially, I just assumed this was another move designed by Congress to stick it to the administration over Iraq. Typical DC politics - fun times in DeeCeeland.
But no, this looks to be a case of actually really, really clueless House leadership at work here. The Armenian-American lobby is really strong, and have a presence in a number of House districts, and honestly, they are good at doing the necessary political spadework.
Part of the history is that this particular issue has come up previously, and again and again, and in prior administrations. Bill Clinton got it killed during his administration before the House could do anything with it, and it's going to happen again with this administration.
The latest:
Link
It's interesting to see all the bodies running away from this one. There's going to be a whole lot of seriously pissed off congresscritters over this one, because there's more than a few of them who feel they got blindsided over this issue. They had no idea how this would escalate, how this would come across to the nation of Turkey (not just the government), and all the sudden, it's being presented as a "Supporting the Troops" issue.
The folks who were pushing this issue damaged their credibility because they didn't give the congresscritters the straight talk about any blowback. This does not reflect well on House leadership.
Good news is that in a week it will be over. Notice didn't say "Forgotten".