Joint Chiefs chairman assures Turkey that he is "working hard to warn Congress"?

[ProSense]

Joint Chiefs chairman tries to defuse Turkish anger

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has telephoned his Turkish counterpart to assure him that the U.S. military is aware of the potential for a crisis between the countries, an official said Friday.

Turkey is outraged over a resolution passed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, which declares that the deportation of nearly 2 million Armenians from the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923 -- resulting in the deaths of 1.5 million people -- was "systematic" and "deliberate," amounting to "genocide."

The Bush administration has been trying to mend frayed relations with Turkey, which recalled its ambassador on Thursday, and to keep the resolution from being approved by the full House.

Mullen contacted Gen. Yasar Buyukanit and assured him that the Pentagon was working hard to warn Congress of the military implications if the Turks were to cut off U.S. access to the air base at Incirlik, Turkey, according to a senior U.S. military official.

link

Is this a political or military role?

On Armenian Genocide, Bush caught in another lie and hypocrisy

[seemslikeadream]

1. working hard to warn Congress of the military implications

Does anyone think they don't understand that? I do and I'm just a little old lady in the middle of a cornfield

[MrCoffee]

2. it's military...why?

why wouldn't the CJCS update Congress on the military implications of legislation?

[ProSense]

3. Updating Congress

and doing the State Department's job are two different things!

[MrCoffee]

4. NATO top brass talk to each other all the time

on edit: ok, maybe not literally "all the time", but you know what i mean.

personally, i think they should be talking to each other during times of hightened tension, rather than hunkering down and ignoring one another.

i don't know, seems like a good thing if someone's trying to dial down the tension

[ProSense]

5. It's not the CJCS job to counter Congress!

It's not his job to inflame the situation. Diplomacy is needed, but not to pit Congress against Turkey.

[MrCoffee]

6. counter Congress? shouldn't Congress be fully informed before voting?

[ProSense]

7. Do you actually believe Congress isn't aware of Turkey's position or

the military implications?