Destabilizing alliances or telling the truth?

Published the week of 2007-10-17
Michigan Technological University Online Lode, MI
By: Luke Gublo

The article below provides an honest assessment of the situation. The alliance with Turkey is fleeting but the erosion of values of America has much larger consequences. I quote the excerpt from this article below:

"Of course, realizing the need for good diplomatic ties with a strategic ally, the Bush Administration has chosen to oppose the Armenian Genocide Bill. I find this quite unfortunate. Although we would indeed anger Turkey by signing this bill into law, it is morally indefensible for America to deny the Armenian genocide.

Bush wasn’t always against the idea of genocide being committed against the Armenian people. At a campaign stop in Chicago prior to his election in 2000, Bush had many different feelings about this issue.

“The Armenians were subjected to a genocidal campaign that defies comprehension and commands all decent people to remember and acknowledge the facts and lessons of an awful crime in a century of bloody crimes against humanity,” said Bush. “If elected President, I would ensure that our nation properly recognizes the tragic suffering of the Armenian people.” "

This week brought about another foreign policy challenge for the Bush Administration. They have plenty as it is, of course, with the continuation of an Iraq policy that is overwhelmingly unpopular with the American people. This week, the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs passed a bill that would end the United States’ complicity in Turkey’s denial of what many feel was genocide committed against Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in 1915. The vote was 27-21 in favor of the bill, with Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-TX) not voting.

This particular vote has raised some concern in Washington regarding its relations with Turkey. The vote has quite literally brought relations to a grinding halt, which is not a good thing for the Bush Administration, since Turkey plays a vital role in the Middle East by sharing a border with Iraq. Not only would a diplomatic shutdown close this supply route for the military, but there’s always the possibility that Turkey could send troops over the border and destabilize the Kurdish region of Iraq. Undoubtedly, there is major reason to be concerned over this.

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Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.