So let me get this straight, Mr. Gates. We all know that the 1915 killings of Christian Armenians by Muslim Turks happened and that such mass exterminations of ethnic groups are genocide, but we can't allow Congress to call it Genocide because we need to depend on the Turks in our fight for whatever it is we're fighting for in Iraq. Turkey after all is warning us of "grave consequences" if we call a spade a spade and we know that Turkey has been spending a fortune in the US. giving grants to universities if they refrain from teaching the history of the Armenian genocide. Best just to give in to them, say our otherwise fearless leaders.
The Gates and Condoleezza show appeared on CNN this morning, to plead the indefensible case of the Turkish government and to advise that we give in to their threats. It's just another way Bush's war has made us the allies of evil and the cohorts of corruption. Anything; anything at all to keep that war going. It doesn't matter if we lie, cheat, steal or murder or who we ally ourselves with. Just keep the war going.
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Someone should come up with a Wingnut dictionary.
Genocide = Mass murder of innocent Christian civilians.
Wingnuttery version
Mass murder = It was the Liberals fault
We don't torture, we question harshly.
Funny you should mention this, because Abe Foxman of the ADL recently got in hot water because he refused to acknowledge what happened to the Armenians as genocide, fired another ADL member who did so, then changed his mind with the caveat that the ADL would still lobby Congress NOT to recognize the Armenian genocide in order to protect Israel's relations with Turkey.
http://www.counterpunch.org/walsh08222007.html
http://www.counterpunch.org/walsh08272007.html
I recognize the fact that the people who committed this crime are long gone and Turkey has a new government, but when a government willingly takes on the guilt by denying history; when it makes a large effort to bury the facts, they become accessories after the fact. I feel the same way about much that the Japanese government has done to cover up some of the largest atrocities in history and insist it never happened.
Still, US support of repugnant regimes in order to promote the crusade of the day is an American tradition. We have supported and still support monsters - a few years ago because they were "anti-communist" and more recently because of other things - like oil.
We supported Saddam and then we didn't. We supported the Taliban and then we didn't and we will support Turkey if it helps us conquer - I mean stabilize the region.
I swear I'm ashamed to be a human being these days. Animals don't act like this.
Seems like they are all reading from the same script -
At this point the Boston Jewish community was divided. Foxman was under pressure, and Armenian-Americans from across the country were getting involved. How to respond? With a big expensive newspaper ad of course. And how did Foxman's ad make his case? By blaming it on the Jews! Specificially the Jews of Turkey whom Foxman and company claim would be endangered by a change in the ADL position. But there have been many reports of the tolerance shown to Jews in Turkey, as one letter writer to the Boston Globe noted. The Foxman ad also let the Israeli cat out of the bag, saying, "We are also aware that Turkey is a key strategic ally and friend of the United States and a staunch friend of Israel." (Some staunch friend if it were true that Turkey was persecuting Turkish Jews. What a tangled web has been woven by ADL.) But of course the ADL was only stating its long-time position that Israel comes first way before any consideration of human rights.
I'm trying to think of a country with a commitment to human rights that transcends profit or security or power or nationalism - there must be one somewhere, but for sure, countries run by religious fanatics are near the bottom of the list.
We list any number of them as allies.
None. Nations are giant feudal estates and the only way to convince the serfs all of this is normal, is to indoctrinate them with all kinds of b.s. about patriotism, nationalism, etc. Otherwise, the restrictions on movements that arbitrary borders impose would never be tolerated.
This Turkey business is truly complex and IMHO extremely serious. We're hearing all kinds of takes on it and here's another -Even though Israel and Turkey have had positive relations in the past it was just for political expediency at the time. Israel's main goal is to eliminate all muslim threats in the hood and severing US/Turkish bonds is a stepping stone towards that end, now that Turkey is cozying up to it's neighbors Syria and Iran.
The compliant congress who's been bought by AIPAC is about to end normal relations with the Turks who have very intense feelings concerning that Armenian episode.
Of course its complex, but still - a million and a half people died and are still dead. Whether it was a consequence of a war that founded modern turkey, they are still dead. Germany and Austria have accepted guilt and moved on, and Turkey could do the same. Despite the nuances and consequences I can't have any sympathy with countries that write their own history for their own glory and to hide their own deeds.
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