The First Fruits Of Congressional Meddling
Nancy Pelosi has tried, repeatedly, to meddle in foreign affairs. Her trip to Syria was just an opener. The real damage is coming from her attempt to ram through the Armenian genocide bill. Her meddling and that of Congress as a whole, is now bearing bitter fruit. The White House - the executive branch that has exclusive constitutional powers for foreign relations - is desperately trying to head off a Turkish incursion into Iraq. But Pelosi's antics have made that job enormously more difficult.
President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other U.S. officials implored Turkish and Iraqi leaders to work together to counter the threat from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), U.S. officials said Monday as Turkish troops headed toward the border and tensions soared.
Bush spoke by phone to Turkish President Abdullah Gul and by secure videoconference to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to urge the two governments to work together to deal with the group after a weekend ambush by rebel Kurds killed 12 Turkish soldiers and left eight missing, the White House said.
To Gul, Bush "expressed his deep concern about the recent attacks by PKK terrorists against Turkish soldiers and civilians," spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. "The president reaffirmed our commitment to work with Turkey and Iraq to combat PKK terrorists operating out of northern Iraq (and) told President Gul that the United States will continue to urge the Iraqis to take action against the PKK."
Bush and al-Maliki, meanwhile, "agreed to work together, in cooperation with the Turkish Government, to prevent the PKK from using any part of Iraqi territory to plan or carry out terrorist attacks," Johndroe said. "The prime minister agreed with President Bush that Turkey should have no doubt about our mutual commitment to end all terrorist activity from Iraqi soil."
The U.S. designates the PKK as a terrorist organization…………
………..As Rice was speaking to Erdogan and Barzani on Sunday, the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, was making similar points in Baghdad with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani — himself a Kurd — who ordered the PKK to lay down their arms or leave Iraq, and al-Maliki, a Shiite.
"From our perspective this is a diplomatic full-court press," McCormack said. "We want to see an outcome where you have the Turks and the Iraqis working together and we will do what we can to resolve the issue without a Turkish cross-border incursion."
However, he acknowledged that U.S. influence with NATO ally Turkey was limited, particularly after a House committee passed a resolution describing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians during the waning days of the Ottoman Empire as a "genocide," infuriating Ankara, which has threatened repercussions.
"It makes it harder," McCormack said, referring to the resolution.
It makes it more likely that innocents will die, as well. If Turkey crosses the border it will be at least partly because of the actions of Nancy Pelosi and the House Foreign Relations committee. Seriously stupid move. As Stuart Rothenberg pointed out just today.
World news | Gaius Monday, 22 October , 2007
By marybel, Monday, 22 October , 2007 @ 8:52 pm
Superbly gentle terms: commiseration and stupid. However, it is not among the words that immediately come to my mind. I think more along the lines of: obstructionist, vindictive, traitorous, imbecilic, irresponsible in a deadly sense, and ultimately an deliberate, active attempt to undermine the success of the surge in Iraq.
At this delicate, crucial point in the Iraqi struggle, I most certainly “question the timing.” The best I can say, as a woman, is that Nancy Pelosi is a huge embarrassment to her gender.
By Gaius, Monday, 22 October , 2007 @ 9:06 pm
I’m not overly fond of her, either.
By FedUp, Wednesday, 24 October , 2007 @ 9:14 am
Not only is she an embarrasment, she is dangerous and incompetent! She can’t run the House, and now she thinks she knows all about foreign policy. She needs to tend to business here and kepp her stickies out of things she knows very little about!
Another reason for term limits!