guess the Jews were just disgruntled
"It's all a bit strange" <strangethingshappen@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
message
> "¥ UltraMan ¥" <ultra@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
>> October 26, 2007
>> U.S. and Turkey Thwart Armenian Genocide Bill
>> By CARL HULSE
>> WA****NGTON, Oct. 25 - With backing from more than half of the House
>> this summer, proponents of a resolution condemning the Armenian
>> genocide were confident that they would finally prevail in their quest
>> for Congressional recognition.
>>
>> Adding to their optimism, Speaker Nancy Pelosi was a longtime backer
>> of the resolution, which had been pushed mainly by her fellow
>> Californians, and was committed to bringing it to a House vote.
>>
>> But sup****ters of the measure were not prepared for the vehement
>> opposition of two powerful governments - Turkey, the successor state
>> to the Ottoman Empire, which historians say conducted the genocide,
>> and the United States, which needs Turkey's help in Iraq. Their
>> combined resistance caused the resolution to falter, embarrassing the
>> speaker on a high-profile foreign policy front.
>>
>> On Thursday, sup****ters surrendered, at least for now, telling Ms.
>> Pelosi they were willing to wait until next year. "We believe that a
>> large majority of our colleagues want to sup****t a resolution
>> recognizing the genocide on the House floor and that they will do so,
>> provided the timing is more favorable," the four chief sponsors said
>> in a letter to Ms. Pelosi.
>>
>> The faltering of the push to denounce the genocide illustrates what
>> can happen when domestic politics collide with international affairs
>> and how treacherous that can be for Congressional leaders like Ms.
>> Pelosi, who came under criticism this year for a trip to Syria. It
>> also turned a near triumph into a disappointment for those who believe
>> Congress has a responsibility to send a message on past inhumanities
>> to prevent future ones.
>>
>> "We certainly thought it would be a very tough fight, but it was a
>> much more lopsided one than we expected," said Representative Adam B.
>> Schiff, a California Democrat and a main sponsor of the bill. Once
>> Democrats gained control of Congress in January, sup****ters of the
>> measure mobilized, seeing a way clear to the final vote that had
>> eluded them because of opposition first from the Clinton
>> administration and then from the Bush White House.
>>
>> Ms. Pelosi as well as Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the
>> new majority leader, were dedicated proponents of the resolution that
>> would put the House on record as defining the deaths of an estimated
>> 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 as genocide. The crisis in Darfur, in
>> Sudan, had raised public consciousness about genocide as well.
>>
>> "This issue had a constituency, and there was a lot of momentum due to
>> the switch in leader****p and Darfur," said Aram Hamparian, executive
>> director of the Armenian National Committee of America.
>>
>> It did not hurt that Armenians are an influential bloc in California,
>> Ms. Pelosi's home, and that the resolution was a top priority of
>> California House members of both parties, including Mr. Schiff and two
>> other Democrats, Brad Sherman and Anna G. Eshoo. Ms. Eshoo is a
>> lawmaker of Armenian heritage who is a close friend of Ms. Pelosi's.
>>
>> Mr. Sherman said the speaker's decision to pledge a vote by the full
>> House was not about personal relation****ps but about principle. "You
>> don't have to have a special relation****p with this speaker to get her
>> to be in favor of recognizing genocide," he said.
>>
>> While the backers of the resolution pressed ahead, the Turkish
>> government also went to work, hiring a lobbying team to raise concerns
>> about the potential backlash in Turkey if the resolution was approved,
>> particularly when Turkey is a staging ground for the Iraq war.
>>
>> The Turkish government has resisted the characterization of a
>> genocide, seeing the deaths as among the many tragic losses in a time
>> of brutal conflict. But most of the lobbying against the resolution
>> centered on the need not to antagonize Turkey at a time when it was of
>> crucial strategic value.
>>
>> Among those carrying that message was Representative John P. Murtha, a
>> Pennsylvania Democrat and a close ally of Ms. Pelosi's, who began
>> warning her in February against the bill.
>>
>> "I explained what the ramifications were from a military standpoint,
>> but she said she felt compelled to do it," said Mr. Murtha, who
>> welcomed Thursday's decision. By midsummer, the advocates had 225
>> sponsors, more than the minimum of 218 needed to assure passage. But
>> they refrained from pu****ng for a vote because Turkey was having its
>> own national elections. Instead, they aimed for the fall.
>>
>> Encouraged to consider the bill, the Foreign Affairs Committee
>> approved it on Oct. 10, but by a relatively narrow 27-to-21 vote,
>> because lawmakers were well aware that the measure could reach the
>> floor this year.
>>
>> Mr. Bush and the Turkish government intensified their opposition and
>> within days, co-sponsors of both parties began abandoning the
>> resolution.
>>
>> Ms. Pelosi said it was the responsibility of its backers to secure the
>> needed votes. "This is the legislative process," she told re****ters
>> last week when asked about the furor. Its backers began reassessing
>> their strategy and one result was the letter to the speaker on
>> Thursday.
>>
>> Even some of Ms. Pelosi's allies said the bill's withdrawal, while an
>> embarrassment, may well have averted a larger problem for her had the
>> proposal been approved, setting off problems with Turkey. Advocates of
>> the bill predicted that Congress would eventually regret backing off
>> in the face of a threatened backlash from an ally. "This sets a
>> terrible example," Mr. Hamparian said.
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