The US Congress, with its usual efficiency, sound reasoning and lightening speed, and under its glorious 24% (or less, depending on which poll) approval rating, is moving to condemn an early 20th century Turkish government for the genocide of Armenians in its early days after the fall of the Ottoman Empire some 90-plus years after the fact (perhaps it took that long to move the legislation out of committee?). Those who are pushing this legislation are somehow gratified, reasoning that it's about time we "did" something while following the lead of other nations. Meanwhile, the present-day Turkish government is set on edge and is making veiled threats that could compromise the existing relationship with the US. There are few reasonable persons who might try to deny that there is genocide currently
taking place in another part of the world which could be more forcefully addressed by this US Congress with a similar resolution, but we certainly would not want to offend an oil-producing nation such as the Sudan. After all, we have an economic reality with which we must contend. And given that it only took us 90-plus years to condemn an empire which no longer exists and long after time in which more appropriate action could be undertaken, we should be able to get around to condemning Sudan in perhaps lesser time. That'll show 'em, and all those who suffered such a cruel fate will be vindicated.
There is nothing funny about genocide nor is there anything funny about the move afoot in the Congress to address this tragedy. What responsible persons in the US government must know - or should know - is that such a move now has already upset a valuable ally in a volatile region in which US military personnel are currently engaged in combat operations and will get worse if the full House actually passes this resolution. For the life of me, I cannot determine exactly the Democrats hope to accomplish.
History is never kind to those who have something to be ashamed of because truth, although stranger than fiction, is also the single most potent force at mankind's disposal. There are simply matters of history that cannot be denied though revision is another matter altogether. Because it happened and because it is recorded by too many witnesses, only the most foolhardy would undertake such an action as to proclaim aloud that it never really happened. Just look at the president of Iran and his persistent denial of the Holocaust. Does anyone really take this man seriously at all when he makes such ridiculous statements? Does he present himself as a statesman on any level or with the credibility to make such a statement? He certainly tries, but he must surely be the only one who believes what he says though
that must be arguable.
More to the point, however, is that the Iranian president's denial changes nothing. The Holocaust is no more or less true simply because of a raving lunatic regardless of his status as president of anything. In the same way, Turkey can deny complicity with what happened nearly 100 years ago because the truth is, there is likely no one left alive who actually had a part in it. Does this mean, however, that such things can be swept under a rug since those who were actually responsible can no longer be held responsible?
The question that this congress must answer for itself is this: what purpose will this resolution serve? What overwhelming issue of national significance is so important that this particular resolution will directly affect, and is this issue so significant that it is worth the risk of alienating a not-so-insignificant ally? The Democrat-controlled Congress and especially those Democrats running for president are insistent that the Bush administration has so enraged and alienated the entire world that they will work to "restore" our national credibility. Is this resolution a step in that restorative direction? It hardly seems so especially in light of the fact that the Turkish ambassador to the US has already been recalled by
his government, and it could get worse.
Further, this matter risks not only offending a major US ally but also puts US military operations at great risk since Turkey is one of our major supply routes into Iraq. Risking this resupply route puts our soldiers on the ground in Iraq in a very tenuous position. Is this worth the risk if we support the troops like we say we do?
Finally, how can we take such an impotent resolution seriously as a proclamation that we "must never forget" while we are witnesses to a current event happening right under our noses? How much time must elapse before we issue a similar proclamation against another nation while absolving ourselves of responsibility when we had the knowledge and the wherewithal to do something while it is happening? The Armenian situation will not go away, true enough, but its time is past. Darfur is here and now, and we are apparently powerless or without the will to anything about it.
If history has taught us anything with respect to acts of genocide, the lesson is this: we've learned absolutely nothing. Nothing at all.
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