GLENN BECK PROGRAM
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GLENN: Let me deviate from the news from the western front for just a second to a completely random story, no significance here whatsoever. If I were a police officer or a useful idiot, I might say, nothing to see here, people, nothing bigger than the surface, let's move on. Dateline, Ankara, Turkey. Turkey ordered its ambassador in Washington to return to Turkey for consultations over a U.S. House panel approval of a bill describing the World War I era mass killings of Armenians as genocide. Remember there's nothing to this story.

Turkey's naval commander cancelled a planned trip to the United States over the bill. Earlier the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Ross Wilson, was invited to the foreign ministry where Turkish officials conveyed their unease over the bill and asked the Bush administration to do all in its power to stop the bill from passing in the full House according to a foreign ministry official.

Now, it seems like an odd thing to do. Why would the House be taking up a bill that amounts to announcing their opinion on how a battle in Turkish Armenian history should be categorized? Do we not have politicians with something to do? Should we send them another list? Have they accomplished everything on their honey-do list? The House foreign affairs committee passed the bill Wednesday despite intense lobbying by Turkish officials and opposition from President Bush. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Something's opening up a bit. Bush opposed it. So the Democratic congress is for it. Okay, but that's got to be it, right? I mean, it's just something petty like that. No, maybe there's something more. Maybe they have just been reading up on the Armenian plight lately. Maybe they have just gotten to World War I history because they know if you don't study history, you're destined to repeat it and they're up to World War I. Maybe that's it.

The vote was a triumph for well organized Armenian American interest groups who have lobbied congress for decades to pass this resolution. Decades? This is weird. It's a good thing America doesn't really look into these stories because there's got to be something here, but let's move on, shall we?

They have been trying for decades to pass a bill that basically says Turkish people were savages in the time of World War I, and after all of this time, now all of a sudden they are making headway. I wonder why that's happening right now. Maybe there's something back in the article. Defense secretary Robert Gates reiterated his opposition to the resolution Thursday. Hmmm, that's weird. Why would our defense secretary have an opinion on a bill categorizing a Turkish Armenian conflict from almost 100 years ago? He said the measure could hurt relations at a time when U.S. forces in Iraq rely heavily on Turkish permission to use their airspace for US air cargo flights.

So our relations are already strained with Turkey because they are butting heads with the Kurds and amassing troops on the Kurdish Iraqi border in northern Iraq and our congress selects right now to try to pass a bill that's going to piss off Turkey. That seems odd. But I'm sure when they say that we rely heavily on their airspace, I'm sure that nothing really important is coming through Turkey, right?

About 70% of U.S. air cargo headed for Iraq goes through Turkey, as does one third of the fuel used by the U.S. military in Iraq. U.S. bases also get something called water and other supplies by land from Turkish truckers who cross into the northern region of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Let me tell you something. I'm no Armenian historian, but I am a thinker here and I'm beginning to doubt how much our congress really cares about categorizing deaths from a century ago and I'm starting to wonder if they're just trying to intentionally screw the war up by messing with our supply lines. Maybe, maybe congress should think about this for a second, cutting off supply lines.

Stu, I'm no military strategist, but help me think this through. Cutting off supply lines, isn't that usually what your enemies in war do?

STU: You know, I've actually, I was watching -- I was watching the History Channel and I think they did mention that.

GLENN: Cutting the supply line, it's usual not your own country.

STU: Not usually.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: But I don't know that it's ruled out necessarily.

GLENN: Can I tell you something? I've been noodling this story all week when it broke because it had been sitting out there for a while and then on Wednesday it actually happened, and it really bothered me until I started doing the homework on it. There are enemies of this country that are domestic. You are supposed to defend this Constitution from enemies, foreign and domestic. You tell me how this is not an enemy of the United States. You tell me how -- because listen to this. This is not just cutting off the supply lines of our troops. This is intentionally inflicting damage on a weak ally, one that is in the "I'm not sure" category anymore, one that we are trying to hold together into the ally category. You declare the -- it's not like you could take this back. You declare that Turkey did this at this time with a country that is on the precipice of Muslim extremism. You're not talking about a stable region of the world. I don't know if you've got that. I don't know if you've noticed, but the number one movie, I believe, of all time in Turkey just came out, with the help of American movie makers, and it was about the atrocities -- and it wasn't a documentary of the it was a movie about the atrocities that our military perpetrated on Turks and now our congress is intentionally sticking a stick into the hornet's nest. You are -- you're not just saying, hey, we're not -- you're not an ally. You are making an enemy. How is that not an enemy? You think you're doing it because you're stopping the war. I'm beginning to look at some of the things that they are doing and I have never been here. I have never been here, but please tell me how you're not at least at the precipice looking in across this fence, that some of the things that the people in congress are doing are more about the destruction of our country than about disagreeing with this war. You can disagree with the war, you can vote to cut off -- I believe it is despicable to vote to cut the supply lines off, cut the money off. Bring them home. Bring them home. But what you're doing here is you are making an enemy with Turkey.

How does that serve our interests? How does pushing Turkey further away from capitalism and democracy and stability and more in line with Iran and Syria, how does that help us? You don't think -- they've tried to get us to declare this for decades; you are just doing it now? A bunch of people who are constantly saying no one in the world likes us is pissing off our pseudoally at a time of war when 70% of our cargo flights and water for our troops come out of their country? Plus it only makes things worse with Turkey because it lessens our influence with them, our influence to possibly stop their invasion of the Kurdish areas in Iraq. Our one major success story is being undermined. If we screw up our already shaky relationship and decide to stop letting us use their airspace, it will make our troops harder to supply, it will cost billions of dollars.

And by the way, France did this. France just did this. What was Turkey's reaction? Quote: Turkey ended its military ties with France over the bill last year. You want an example of people playing politics with war? Here you go. This nonsense puts our soldiers at risk. Its backhanded attempt to undermine the war and it makes an enemy out of an ally and quite possibly helps push Turkey into the Muslim extremist category. But maybe they are just focusing on Armenian history, maybe. Maybe get a little, a few more years up in their history books and read about World War II. Maybe they will realize the mistake they're making now.

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