Angering Our Allies, Democrat Style--UPDATED AND BUMPED!

Hypocrisy, thy name is Democrat.

After long complaining that President Bush's "cowboy diplomacy" is alienating and angering our allies overseas, the Democrat-led House of Representatives has passed a resolution that is essentially a slap in the face of one of the few Muslim nations allied with us.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. congressional panel defied President Bush on Wednesday and approved a measure that he said would damage U.S. goals in the Middle East.

The measure that would recognize the World War I-era killings of Armenians as a genocide had been strongly opposed by Turkey, a key NATO ally that has supported U.S. efforts in Iraq.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee's 27-21 vote now sends the measure to the House floor — unless the Democratic leadership reverses course and heeds Bush's warnings.

At issue is the killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I. Turkey denies that the deaths constituted genocide, says the toll has been inflated and insists that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.

Reaction from Turkey has been swift:

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Turkey's top general warned that ties with the U.S., already strained by attacks from rebels hiding in Iraq, will be irreversibly damaged if Congress passes a resolution that labels the World War I-era killings of Armenians a genocide.

Turkey, which is a major cargo hub for U.S. and allied military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, has recalled its ambassador to Washington for consultations and warned that there might be a cut in the logistical support to the U.S. over the issue.

Gen. Yasar Buyukanit told daily Milliyet newspaper that a congressional committee's approval of the measure had already harmed ties between the two countries.

"If this resolution passed in the committee passes the House as well, our military ties with the U.S. will never be the same again," Buyukanit was quoted as saying by Milliyet.

"I'm the military chief, I deal with security issues. I'm not a politician," Buyukanit was quoted as saying by Milliyet. "In this regard, the U.S. shot its own foot."

And...

“The committee’s approval of this resolution was an irresponsible move which, coming at a very sensitive time, will make relations with a friend, ally and strategic partner that have been nurtured over generations, more difficult,” the government said in the statement. “Our government regrets and condemns this decision. It is unacceptable that the Turkish nation has been accused of something that never happened,” it stressed.

The truly ironic thing is, the Democrats are showing their own ignorance of history.

• The "genocide" which they are "condemning" occurred in 1915.
• The Turkey we know today wasn't created until 1923.

So, blaming modern Turkey for this is sort of like condemning modern Italy for the brutalities of the Roman Empire.

Nice going, Speaker Pelosi. You're really demonstrating why you and your party are not ready to be trusted with the reins of power.

UPDATE: IBDEditiorials.com has an interesting idea...

But the timing of this resolution simply stinks, and we're made to wonder if this isn't some Democrats' way of making President Bush's Middle East policy even harder to implement.

Americans might not realize it, but Turkey is strategically indispensable. About 70% of our flights into Iraq come from our Turkish base at Incirlik. About 30% of our fuel comes from there.

[...]

No wonder Turkey is furious — talking even of shutting down Incirlik, which would cost the U.S. war effort in Iraq dearly and could even delay what appears to be a likely victory there.

An American friend who lives in Turkey says--and I must agree with her--that this is designed to make victory in Iraq even harder, thus helping the MoveOn-ocrats.

Defeat at any cost must be their rally cry.

Update and Bump: More and more commentators are coming to the conclusion that this is designed to screw up our success in Iraq, as seen here, here, and here.

Can the Democrats really be so stupid as to mess up our relations with an ally just because of their hatred of George W. Bush? I wish I could say the idea is laughable, but the past antics of the MoveOnocrats have shown that it is frighteningly plausible.

Update 3 and Bump 2: Looks like Pelosi is starting to lose support, according to the liberal bible, a/k/a the New York Times:

Before Tuesday, the measure appeared on a path to House passage, with strong support from Speaker Pelosi. But by Tuesday evening, a group of senior House Democrats had made it known that they were planning to ask the leadership to drop plans for a vote on the measure.

One wonders if these same senior House Democrats would have done so if the light hadn't been cast on their apparent plans to make success in Iraq more difficult by prodding Turkey to cut off access to Incirlik Air Base, through which a lot of supplies for Iraq pass.