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Hernando Today, FL
Oct 13 2007
Turtle instead of an eagle
By JOHN NASH
Published: Oct 12, 2007
The situation involving Turkey and our pork-fed Congress can have
serious impact on U.S. hopes to pacify the Middle East. Although they
have no business doing so, our liberal and feckless Congress is
wasting time, while undermining the security of the world, by
catering to a small-but-active political lobby demanding that the
U.S. officially condemn modern Turkey for alleged atrocities
committed during a war that took place a century ago, when Turkey was
ruled by a significantly different government.
Such a thoughtless and ridiculous act will accomplish little other
than so straining Turkish-American relations that we may lose an
important air force base. Even worse, we could lose the support and
friendship of Turkey, the only bridge between Asia and Europe,
between East and West, between radical Islam and rational secularism.
What is the basis for strident claims that the Ottoman Empire
(predecessor to today's Turkey) attempted to wipe out Armenians
living in the Empire during the First World War?
Unfortunately, irrefutable details are hard to come by and as a
result, both sides of the argument routinely present grainy photos
and other questionable evidence to support opposing claims.
All that seems clear is that large numbers of Armenians, while
residing in the eastern part of the Ottoman Empire (today's eastern
Turkey), allied themselves with the Ottoman's traditional enemy,
Russia. Understandably viewed as an intolerable situation by the
Turks, a campaign was mounted to move them out of Turkey; in that
process perhaps hundreds of thousands of the Armenians perished - so
also did large numbers of Turks.
If we Congress persists in its condemnation of modern Turkey, for
what its distant ancestors are alleged to have done, the U.S. and its
attempts to make the world a safer place will almost surely suffer
penalties with potential for major military and diplomatic setbacks.
Thirty years ago, when the U.S. carelessly chose to publicly side
with Greece in its dispute with Turkey over the island of Cyprus, we
naively cut off military aid to our staunch Turkish ally. The Turks
were quick to retaliate, by essentially closing down some dozen U.S.
military installations in Turkey. In that process, the U.S. lost
vital intelligence being gathered by radio intercept,
over-the-horizon radar to detect missile launches in the Soviet Union
and various other sensors used to detect missile and bomb tests by
the Soviets.
Although we kept those installations open in a caretaker status for
several years, we eventually abandoned them, turning ownership of
small cities of homes and other facilities over to the Turks. During
that period of avoidable tension between the allies, Iranians were
allowed to invade the U.S. Embassy in their capital city. From
November 4, 1979 until Jan 20, 1981, Iran held 62 diplomats hostage,
having no fear that President Jimmy Carter would take effective
action against them for their international crime. At one point, the
Pentagon did, however, plan a major operation to both punish Iran and
rescue the hostages.
A still-operating U.S. airbase at Incirlik in southern Turkey, was
the cornerstone of that massive operation. Without warning Ankara,
the U.S. began gathering the necessary air forces at Incirlik. A
Turkish colonel, who'd taken control of Incirlik during the Cypriot
fiasco, went on television to advise the nation that "No American
aircraft will be allowed to start its engines, except in preparation
for a return trip to where they had come from."
An alternate plan to invade Iran with a helicopter force of special
forces from places other than Turkey met an ignominious end in the
desert. Iran subsequently released the captives one day after a
strong president (Ronald Reagan) took the oath of office]. Incirlik
today has become world famous as the main air base supporting our
military objectives in Iraq and other nations of the region. If
Turkey shuts it down as a result of our silly resolution of
condemnation for some long-distant act of war, the impact will likely
be immediate and tragic.
You'd think that we'd learn from history, but we clearly refuse to do
so. Our Congress is like a tortoise, which when picked up and turned
around, will repeatedly turn itself back to its prior route -- even
wandering across a heavily traveled highway. Perhaps we should
replace out national symbol - the fierce and swift eagle - for a
single-minded, lumbering, tortoise.
J. G. Nash is a long-time resident of Florida. He writes regularly
about travel, as well as providing opinion columns. Comments may be
sent to him at [email protected].
http://www.hernandotoday.com/c olumnists/MGBMP1X2P7F.html
Oct 13 2007
Turtle instead of an eagle
By JOHN NASH
Published: Oct 12, 2007
The situation involving Turkey and our pork-fed Congress can have
serious impact on U.S. hopes to pacify the Middle East. Although they
have no business doing so, our liberal and feckless Congress is
wasting time, while undermining the security of the world, by
catering to a small-but-active political lobby demanding that the
U.S. officially condemn modern Turkey for alleged atrocities
committed during a war that took place a century ago, when Turkey was
ruled by a significantly different government.
Such a thoughtless and ridiculous act will accomplish little other
than so straining Turkish-American relations that we may lose an
important air force base. Even worse, we could lose the support and
friendship of Turkey, the only bridge between Asia and Europe,
between East and West, between radical Islam and rational secularism.
What is the basis for strident claims that the Ottoman Empire
(predecessor to today's Turkey) attempted to wipe out Armenians
living in the Empire during the First World War?
Unfortunately, irrefutable details are hard to come by and as a
result, both sides of the argument routinely present grainy photos
and other questionable evidence to support opposing claims.
All that seems clear is that large numbers of Armenians, while
residing in the eastern part of the Ottoman Empire (today's eastern
Turkey), allied themselves with the Ottoman's traditional enemy,
Russia. Understandably viewed as an intolerable situation by the
Turks, a campaign was mounted to move them out of Turkey; in that
process perhaps hundreds of thousands of the Armenians perished - so
also did large numbers of Turks.
If we Congress persists in its condemnation of modern Turkey, for
what its distant ancestors are alleged to have done, the U.S. and its
attempts to make the world a safer place will almost surely suffer
penalties with potential for major military and diplomatic setbacks.
Thirty years ago, when the U.S. carelessly chose to publicly side
with Greece in its dispute with Turkey over the island of Cyprus, we
naively cut off military aid to our staunch Turkish ally. The Turks
were quick to retaliate, by essentially closing down some dozen U.S.
military installations in Turkey. In that process, the U.S. lost
vital intelligence being gathered by radio intercept,
over-the-horizon radar to detect missile launches in the Soviet Union
and various other sensors used to detect missile and bomb tests by
the Soviets.
Although we kept those installations open in a caretaker status for
several years, we eventually abandoned them, turning ownership of
small cities of homes and other facilities over to the Turks. During
that period of avoidable tension between the allies, Iranians were
allowed to invade the U.S. Embassy in their capital city. From
November 4, 1979 until Jan 20, 1981, Iran held 62 diplomats hostage,
having no fear that President Jimmy Carter would take effective
action against them for their international crime. At one point, the
Pentagon did, however, plan a major operation to both punish Iran and
rescue the hostages.
A still-operating U.S. airbase at Incirlik in southern Turkey, was
the cornerstone of that massive operation. Without warning Ankara,
the U.S. began gathering the necessary air forces at Incirlik. A
Turkish colonel, who'd taken control of Incirlik during the Cypriot
fiasco, went on television to advise the nation that "No American
aircraft will be allowed to start its engines, except in preparation
for a return trip to where they had come from."
An alternate plan to invade Iran with a helicopter force of special
forces from places other than Turkey met an ignominious end in the
desert. Iran subsequently released the captives one day after a
strong president (Ronald Reagan) took the oath of office]. Incirlik
today has become world famous as the main air base supporting our
military objectives in Iraq and other nations of the region. If
Turkey shuts it down as a result of our silly resolution of
condemnation for some long-distant act of war, the impact will likely
be immediate and tragic.
You'd think that we'd learn from history, but we clearly refuse to do
so. Our Congress is like a tortoise, which when picked up and turned
around, will repeatedly turn itself back to its prior route -- even
wandering across a heavily traveled highway. Perhaps we should
replace out national symbol - the fierce and swift eagle - for a
single-minded, lumbering, tortoise.
J. G. Nash is a long-time resident of Florida. He writes regularly
about travel, as well as providing opinion columns. Comments may be
sent to him at [email protected].
http://www.hernandotoday.com/c olumnists/MGBMP1X2P7F.html