Turkeys: Nancy Pelosi and Tom Lantos

Would Turkey be bombing the snot out of Northern Iraq if the Democrats had kept their Machiavellian yappers shut? We'll never know. But now, there's bombing going on on the Northern border and Turkish troops building up there, too.

Just as things settle down down South, Iraq is all stirred up up North. You know, I was hoping that when the Democrats got in power that they would start acting like grown-ups, but that hasn't been the case. They act like they're still the minority party and their words and actions don't matter. But they do matter. It's something Nancy Pelosi needs to remember:

It's certainly not her finest moment," said Michael O'Hanlon, senior fellow in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

"There's been no great harm done, but we do have to find some ways to mend the U.S.-Turkish relationship."

I hope not. But it seems like great harm is being done right now.

Armenian Genocide--UPDATE

Oh, yes, the Democrats are too that Machiavellian. They would love for Turkey to get all crazy right now. Invading Iraq and killing some Kurds would be delightful. See? There is no safe place in Iraq. The whole country is a mess.

How about this separated at birth photo? Scary:


The Turkey resolution is nothing less or more than an attempt to undercut the U.S. at a delicate time. It's politically uncomfortable for Democrats for things to go well in Iraq. Better to have Turkey pissed off. That will cause everyone problems. Maybe it will even cost lives.

Let's keep our priorities straight. Political lives are at stake.

And who is doubting that it was genocide? No. One. Sometimes, the greater part of wisdom is to shut up. Especially when loose talk could very well cause another genocide.

UPDATE: Thanks Glenn, for the link! While you're here, read about the cyber con artist who ruined a life. It can be a scary place on this Internets thingy.

If America Leaves Iraq

Beautiful words said in meaningful ways can change the world. All great leaders know this, no matter their political or philosophical stripe. Michael Totten, reporting from Northern Iraq and interviewing the Kurds and Peshmerga Army, quotes Colonol Mudhafer, who says this:

“You should know that Kurds are the main friends of the Americans in the Middle East,” he said. “In the past we had only God and the mountains as friends. But now we want Americans to support us in all matters, to be another mountain. Our Minister of Peshmerga has great relations with the American forces. We are in the same trench and we are fighting the terrorists just like Americans are. It will be in the future this way, also. Not one American person has been wounded in this area. We have a real alliance with America. We are proud of this relationship. We want the American nation to know we are real friends.”

America should be a mountain for people such as these and they have been a moutain. Totten is not so sure.

He worries about being used by the Kurds to get out a message. Probably. He acknowledges this slant and reports what he sees which is enough for me and more than the MSM often provides.

Personally, my heart is with any person sincere in his desire to die for freedom. When you see the pictures of these people who are integrating cultures, languages, religions and genders (go look at the pictures of the "officers club") you see a people not unlike Americans who are managing to melt together for a bigger idea. This is very different than most of the world, including Europe. Europe does not integrate foreigners and any so-called union is really a conglomerate of nationalistic states gluing themselves together for expedience sake. So, yes, I believe the Kurds deserve America's unreserved support. And yes, I believe a nice big American base would be a strategic hedge in a land filled with tension.

The Kurds don't buy the notion that Americans in Iraq cause the tension. Al Jazeera and Democrats do believe this or pretend to believe this. Fundamentally, ignoring American politics (as if that's not the most important factor driving the Democrats) , but for the sake of argument, ignoring American politics, the argument for getting America out of Iraq would be that magic peace would descend if Americans were out.

If Americans leave Iraq what would happen would be chaos and higher gas prices and terrorism on a grander scale and war in the power vacuum and shame for America. What little respect and honor we retained after Vietnam (leaving allies to be slaughtered tends to lower your profile) we would lose. America is resilient, but in a world where strength, resolve and might is everything (even and especially to Europe), leaving and losing will tarnish America and reduce our influence. Of course, that's exactly what the Democrats and the Left really desire. It fulfills multi-culti moral-equivalence fantasies. It ensures eventual destruction.