Politics drive US Armenia resolution
WASHINGTON (AFP) — An explosive mix of political opportunism, moral crusading and a bitter feud with President George W. Bush is driving Democrats to ignore Turkey's ire and label massacres of Armenians as genocide.
In a case steeped in history, riven with domestic politics but with major international implications, the House of Representatives is set to debate a measure on the killings in World War I of up to 1.5 million Ottoman Armenians.
Though it is non-binding, the bill, likely to come up in the full House in November, has enraged Turkey, which recalled its ambassador to Washington and stoked fears here it will cut vital logistical support for US Iraq operations.
Democrats argue that by refusing to condemn the Armenian massacres as "genocide" the United States will encourage impunity for current and future crimes against humanity, for example the killings of civilians in Darfur.
One of the faces of the Democratic effort is Democratic Congressman Tom Lantos, chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committe and a Holocaust survivor known for infusing his politics with a strong moral tone.
The committee this week passed the bill to the full House floor after Lantos had called a vote of "conscience" and argued the United States had a moral duty to describe the killings as "genocide" despite the consequences.
It was a reminder of the consequences when domestic US politics erupt onto the international stage from a system where the legislature and the executive (presidential) branches are equal and often at odds.
Democratic determination on the issue also appears partly born of intense frustration at past failures to ram the genocide bill through Congress while it was controlled by Republicans.
"For 25 years I have been told -- because I have sponsored a single resolution for a quarter of a century -- I have been told that this was not the right time to pass this," said House Democratic majority leader Steny Hoyer.
In 2000, it was pressure by the Democratic administration of president Bill Clinton, concerned about damage to relations with a key political ally, which thwarted the measure.
The same committee passed a similar resolution in 2005, but the Republican leadership stopped it from being brought to the full House floor in order to spare Bush embarrassment.
No such sentiment applies to Democrats, who are locked in a tense political showdown with the White House, on issues as diverse as Iraq, children's health care and a 'war on terror' wiretap program.
Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi is determined that will not happen again, despite unusual and outspoken public entreaties from Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
"I said, if it comes out of committee, it will go to the floor. Now, it has come out of committee, and it will go to the floor," she said Thursday.
Frustrated by years in the political wilderness, Democrats give every sign that they plan to wield the power granted to them when they routed Republicans in last November's congressional elections.
George Harris, a former State Department analyst now at the Middle East Institute, said the machinations of domestic politics were playing a key role in the affair -- one year out from the next presidential elections.
"The Democrats won control of Congress and they have to show they can do something," he said, adding that Pelosi, like many others who support the bill have powerful constituents in the Armenian community.
The issue has also seen a fierce lobbying effort on Capitol Hill, where senior Turkish officials meeting top Democrats and high-priced lobbyists employed by the Turks and the Armenian exile community here.
Pelosi, who represents a liberal district in San Francisco has long been a supporter of the Armenian genocide measure, and it would have been hard for politically to turn her back on it, as the leader of her party.
The Armenian National Committee of America, an exile group, gives Pelosi an 'A' rating on its report card on various issues important to the community.
Michael Rubin, a scholar with the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, named this week as an advisor to former New York Repubican mayor Rudolph Giuliani's campaign, also saw political motives at play.
"We're in election season right now. Unfortunately, many people in Congress are more concerned with posturing than consequences," he said.
