He who pays the piper…

25 October 2007
The Socialist
KEVIN PARSLOW

"Gephardt who secured a $1.2 million contract to lobby for Turkey had previously co-sponsored an earlier genocide resolution."

Dear Richard Gephardt, what is the rate of inflation since Judas took 30 pieces of silver to denounce Jesus? Thirty pieces now equal to $1.2. Shame on you!

THE RECENT furore in the US Congress over a resolution condemning the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians by Turkey during World War One has revealed the powerful lobbying system entrenched in US politics.

Initially it seemed that a 'non-binding resolution' condemning the atrocity, passed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, would find an easy passage through Congress.

However, former Republican Representative Robert Livingston - who since leaving Capitol Hill in 1999 has earned $12 million in fees from Turkey to block such resolutions - successfully got fellow Republicans to remove their names from the resolution's sponsorship. Livingston argued, along with George Bush, that 'national security concerns' were paramount ie Turkey's threat to invade northern Iraq.

Livingston's effort has been joined by another lobbyist, former Democrat and House majority leader Richard Gephardt. Gephardt who secured a $1.2 million contract to lobby for Turkey had previously co-sponsored an earlier genocide resolution.

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.