Just when you thought Iraq took a positive turn...

OK, I'm guessing that nobody reading this seriously thought that Iraq was heading for better times, but lately, there had been surprisingly less bad news eminating from the country. Turkey is ready to fix that:

Turkey Ponders Iraq Campaign

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that Turkey would not be deterred by the possible consequences of invading Iraq if it decides to stage a cross-border offensive against Kurdish rebels. [...]

The Turkish parliament was expected to approve a government request to authorize an Iraq campaign as early as next week, after a holiday ending the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. But that does not mean a risky incursion will follow at once. Turkey might give diplomacy, and perhaps economic pressure, more time to work even as public enthusiasm for a military mission mounts.

Ahhh yes, diplomacy. That will also prove to be an obstacle since Turkey is throwing a hissy fit -- calling its US ambassador back to Ankara -- over the House of Representative's committee level vote on a bill to call the Ottoman Turks' genocide of the Armenians during World War I a genocide. Yes, they're that stubborn. And let's not mince words here: it was a genocide. In fact, the Turks' mass murder of Armenians was such a clear-cut case of genocide that it prompted Raphael Lemkin to coin the word "genocide" -- the word didn't yet exist, and there was no other way to describe the atrocities committed by the Ottoman Empire. Why modern day Turkey still has a conniption over the mere mention of the involvement of the Ottoman government is beyond me.

But maybe I spoke too soon. Maybe diplomacy will work, since Bush has vowed to veto the Armenian Genocide bill should it reach his desk. There's one word for such an action: Shame.

And to think, all Bush could have done to avoid a confrontation with Turkey is take care of the Kurdish PKK guerrilla problem -- but he hasn't lifted a finger to do such. And now that the PKK is killing Turkish military on Turkish soil again, Turkey is ready to act -- and Bush has absolutely no justification to stop them, since he invaded Iraq for lesser reasons. In fact, some might call those "reasons" outright lies.

But to practice diplomacy with Turkey, our factually-challenged president is willing to continue masking up what is historical fact. The Turks systematically targeted and murdered hundreds of thousands of Armenians during World War I. However, Bush sees fit to continuing denying this -- to continue denying the dignity of the Armenian people -- just to try and salvage his quagmire of a war.

Shame on Bush, shame on anyone who voted for him, and shame on anyone who supports this war. Is it possible for all three of those entities to sink any lower into the moral sewer?

[Crossposted from Sugar Land is Dreaming]