Local Pundit Gives Dent a Free Ride on Turkey Issue 

     Bill Cahir, the Express Times Washington correspondent, has once again stood solidly and soothingly behind our local Congressman, Charles Dent, in a recent column, “Condemning Turkey isn’t a wise idea”. Cahir begins his column by stating, “U.S. Representative Charlie Dent ranks among House officials questioning the judgment of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat who said she was going to allow the full House to vote on a resolution condemning the Armenian genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Turks between 1915 and 1923.” Yet, wait a minute, Dent has actually co-sponsored the bill at issue, House Resolution 106. 

     This is typical of both Dent and the local press that fawns over him. He opposes a bill he suppports. It was the same with SCHIP, and is the same with the Iraq War/Occupation. Dent supports it, but opposes it, or opposes it but supports it. I suppose this is what we would call “moderate”. It is important to recognize the slaughter of the Armenians as a genocide. It is important for Turkey to own up to it, just as it is important for the United States to recognize the slaughter of the indigenous of this continent, and the horror of slavery. 

     Dent/Cahir cite the current importance of Turkey in the Iraq War/Occupation, its support for the Bush War on Terror, and “the problem with Kurdistan Workers Party incursions in northern Iraq”. None of these issues have any bearing on the acknowledgment of a historic reality relating to Armenians and Turkey, but have everything to do with decades of United States foreign policy machinations that have left the Kurds without a nation, and with grievances that rise to the level of armed conflict. 

     The United States has time and again betrayed the Kurdish cause. In 1975, Henry Kissinger promised Kurdish leaders a nation if it would support Iran in a dispute with Iraq. Then he helped broker an agreement between the two dictators, the Shah and Sadddam, and betrayed the Kurds, leaving them nationless with thousands dead at the hands of the Saddam’s troops. Henry commented on this as follows; ”Covert action should not be confused with missionary work.” In 1991, Bush 41 allowed Saddam to brutally repress an uprising that had been encouraged by the US, again leaving thousands to be killed without support. 

     Today, the US balances the Kurdish drive toward autonomy in northern Iraq with the need to maintain an illusion of a unified central government in Baghdad. Turkey must be constantly placated and reassured that the Iraq government will keep the aspirations of the Kurds under control. The resolution at issue is being used by Turkey as a justification for gaining leverage for military action in order to solve a longstanding political dispute. My prediction is that this column is a prelude to a vote change for Mr. Dent. He will not vote for the resolution he has co-sponsored, because this is not time for a memory, or any type of deep analysis that would lead to political solutions to deep political problems. War has its own prerogatives and demands that supercede any search for historic accountability or justice. Let the denial of a genocide against Armenians serve as a cover for military attacks against a nationless people. 

     This is the behavior that Bill Cahir wants from Congress. As he concludes, “A sensible House might pass a resolution for its (Turkey’s) support in the war on terrorism. But is a sensible Congress what we have today?” 

    I would comment, “A sensible media might look deeper into an issue than simply slavishly taking the exact position of the local Congressman. Is a subservient media what we have today?” -Joe DeRaymond