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Family Security Matters, NJ
Oct 19 2007
Playing Chicken with Turkey
By Bob Parks
Those on the anti-war Left have been reminding us for years that they
`support the troops' but oppose the mission. Some of us contend that
you can't do both, and I may have finally been proven right on this
one....
The United States Congress, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is trying to
pass a resolution condemning Turkey for the genocide of Armenians by
the Ottoman Turks...in 1915. Now while we hear the cries for Darfur,
our Congress is going to condemn Turkey, as it turns out for the
third time. This has resulted in the Turkish Ambassador being
recalled from Washington and relations between the United States and
Turkey are in trouble.
Why is this happening? Last Sunday on `This Week with George
Stephanopoulos,' Stephanopoulos asked Speaker Pelosi: "If the
president, or Secretary Gates, or the chairman of Joint Chiefs called
you and said they're just certain that this is going to put our
military at risk, is it still worth going forward with your
resolution?" Pelosi replied:
The president hasn't called me on it, so that's hypothetical. Some of
the things that are harmful to our troops relate to values: Abu
Ghraib, Guantanamo, torture, all of those issues about who we are as
a country. And I think that our troops are well served when we
declare who we are as a country and increase the respect that people
have for us as a nation.
Well, it's great Speaker Pelosi cares so much about our image and
values. But some of you may be asking, `Why is our relationship with
Turkey anything we should care about?'
Turkey is one of the few truly moderate Muslim nations in the region.
Turkey allows us to fly over and drive through their country to
deliver supplies to our soldiers in Iraq. Because of the questionable
timing of Speaker Pelosi's actions, Turkey may deny the United States
access - thus cutting off the most direct means of getting supplies
to our soldiers.
So why is she doing this?
The answer is quite clear. Reports are now coming in on a consistent
basis that we have crippled al Qaeda in Iraq. Reports are now coming
in on a consistent basis that The Surge is working and violence is
way down. Reports are now coming in on a consistent basis that fewer
of our soldiers and Iraqi civilians are dying from insurgent
violence. In other words, people, we are winning.
The problem is MoveOn.org and the like are still sending out faxes
that we have lost the war. Democrat fundraising letters are still
going out saying we have lost the war. Liberal politicians on Capitol
Hill, and locally, are still saying we lost the war. The Left can't
afford good news about the war, so it would appear Nancy Pelosi and
Congressional Democrats have decided to sabotage the war effort by
alienating an ally, thus the potential of cutting off supplies for
our own men and women in harm's way.
So they can say they were right, they are seeing to it we will lose.
And let's be clear: a loss means the probably death of hundreds more
of our soldiers.
So all that stuff we heard from the Left about us `going it alone'
and not reaching out to our allies for help was BS. All that stuff
we heard about liberals supporting the troops was BS.
The Democrats are playing chicken with Turkey. With our sons and
daughters fighting for their lives, now is not a good time to be
playing games.
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Bob Parks is a
nationally syndicated political and social columnist. In addition to
writing radio commentary, Mr. Parks appears on the award-winning
television program, "Black & Right"
http://www.familysecuritymatters.or g/challenges.php?id=1385029
Oct 19 2007
Playing Chicken with Turkey
By Bob Parks
Those on the anti-war Left have been reminding us for years that they
`support the troops' but oppose the mission. Some of us contend that
you can't do both, and I may have finally been proven right on this
one....
The United States Congress, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is trying to
pass a resolution condemning Turkey for the genocide of Armenians by
the Ottoman Turks...in 1915. Now while we hear the cries for Darfur,
our Congress is going to condemn Turkey, as it turns out for the
third time. This has resulted in the Turkish Ambassador being
recalled from Washington and relations between the United States and
Turkey are in trouble.
Why is this happening? Last Sunday on `This Week with George
Stephanopoulos,' Stephanopoulos asked Speaker Pelosi: "If the
president, or Secretary Gates, or the chairman of Joint Chiefs called
you and said they're just certain that this is going to put our
military at risk, is it still worth going forward with your
resolution?" Pelosi replied:
The president hasn't called me on it, so that's hypothetical. Some of
the things that are harmful to our troops relate to values: Abu
Ghraib, Guantanamo, torture, all of those issues about who we are as
a country. And I think that our troops are well served when we
declare who we are as a country and increase the respect that people
have for us as a nation.
Well, it's great Speaker Pelosi cares so much about our image and
values. But some of you may be asking, `Why is our relationship with
Turkey anything we should care about?'
Turkey is one of the few truly moderate Muslim nations in the region.
Turkey allows us to fly over and drive through their country to
deliver supplies to our soldiers in Iraq. Because of the questionable
timing of Speaker Pelosi's actions, Turkey may deny the United States
access - thus cutting off the most direct means of getting supplies
to our soldiers.
So why is she doing this?
The answer is quite clear. Reports are now coming in on a consistent
basis that we have crippled al Qaeda in Iraq. Reports are now coming
in on a consistent basis that The Surge is working and violence is
way down. Reports are now coming in on a consistent basis that fewer
of our soldiers and Iraqi civilians are dying from insurgent
violence. In other words, people, we are winning.
The problem is MoveOn.org and the like are still sending out faxes
that we have lost the war. Democrat fundraising letters are still
going out saying we have lost the war. Liberal politicians on Capitol
Hill, and locally, are still saying we lost the war. The Left can't
afford good news about the war, so it would appear Nancy Pelosi and
Congressional Democrats have decided to sabotage the war effort by
alienating an ally, thus the potential of cutting off supplies for
our own men and women in harm's way.
So they can say they were right, they are seeing to it we will lose.
And let's be clear: a loss means the probably death of hundreds more
of our soldiers.
So all that stuff we heard from the Left about us `going it alone'
and not reaching out to our allies for help was BS. All that stuff
we heard about liberals supporting the troops was BS.
The Democrats are playing chicken with Turkey. With our sons and
daughters fighting for their lives, now is not a good time to be
playing games.
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Bob Parks is a
nationally syndicated political and social columnist. In addition to
writing radio commentary, Mr. Parks appears on the award-winning
television program, "Black & Right"
http://www.familysecuritymatters.or g/challenges.php?id=1385029