- Jul 12, 2018
- 9,342
Legislators from across all of the United States returned to Washington D.C. early from their winter vacation after President Gore called for a special joint session of the Congress. The Capitol Building as well as its memorial and visitor centers were closed for most of January 17, 2000. Vice President Benjamin Sinclair and Speaker of the House George W. Bush ensured that every single member of Congress was in Washington for the joint session. Security for the event was immense. The entirety of the District of Columbia Army National Guard was put on stand-by alert. The Federal Aviation Administration closed the Capital Airspace (which included the airspace over D.C., Arlington County, and the City of Alexandria to all civilian and non-essential U.S. military flights). Also, the Air Force used civilian and military radars to carefully monitor the skies in and around the Capital Airspace. Half a dozen fighter squadrons on the eastern seaboard were also on stand-by in the event that an emergency scramble was needed. At the Capitol itself, the U.S. Capitol Police were out in full force to ensure that the entirety of the building was secure. The FBI and, to a lesser extent, the Secret Service and D.C. Metropolitan Police ensured that the outer perimeters of the Capitol and nearby streets were secure. That night the people inside the Capitol Building were limited to the President, Vice President, the First Lady, the President's Cabinet, members of the Senate and House of Representatives, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the chief and associate justices of the Supreme Court, the invited guests of the President and the Congress, the Diplomatic Corps (select foreign ambassadors in Washington D.C. to the United States), security, members of staff of the three branches of government, American reporters, and CSPAN camera crews who would broadcast the speech to the public. Everyone that entered the building were subject to going through a metal detector, being brought by bomb-sniffing dogs, and had their identities checked multiple times. No weapons or foreign security would be allowed into the Capitol Building. Among the Diplomatic Corps, the President made sure to specifically request that the ambassadors from: the United Kingdom, the Russian Empire, Sweden, Israel, Australia, and Canada attend.
By 8:30PM Eastern Time, the members of the House of Representatives were seated. Then, the Deputy Sergeant at Arms loudly declared to Speaker Bush that Vice President Benjamin V. Sinclair and the members of the Senate had arrived - the Vice President and the Senators then shortly entered the chamber and took their seats. Speaker Bush and Vice President Sinclair, who was the President of the Senate, both appointed Congressmen and Senators respectively to "escort" the President in the chamber. The Deputy Sergeant at Arms later addressed the speaker again and announced, in order, the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, the Chief Justice of the United States and his respective associate justices, and the President's Cabinet. They all entered to moderate applause and took their seats. The Joint Chiefs of Staff would be seated near the Supreme Court associate justices who were dressed in their black robes.
Finally, a few minutes later, the Sergeant at Arms stood before the main entrance to the House Chamber and announced, "Mister Speaker, the President of the United States!"
The chamber erupted in applause as President Gore entered. Senators and Congressmen were leaning over from their seats and, as many as possible, tried to shake hands with the President as he slowly made his way down the aisle. There was continuous applause as the President eventually made his way to the speaker's rostrum. While a State of The Union address was normally more of a celebratory speech of how (virtually always optimistically) the nation was doing, this technically wasn't a State of The Union address. Instead, this extraordinary joint session was going to be a call for action by the Congress, and the United States itself. President Gore eventually made it to the House Clerk's desk where he briefly turned around and handed two manila envelopes to the Vice President and Speaker respectively - inside was a signed copy of the speech he was about to give. He shook both of their hands, exchanged a few brief words, and then turned around to the Congress. After a few another minute or so of applause the crowd finally quieted down.
Speaker Bush, who had remained standing, gaveled once upon his desk and said, "Members of Congress, I have the high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you the President of the United States."
The entire crowd, once again, stood up and applauded for what was nearly two minutes. President nodded at a few of his friends in the crowd, but quickly did his best to try to get everyone to sit down. Nevertheless, as was tradition, the Congress clapped anyway for another half minute. Finally the crowd sat down and the President was able to begin his speech which was, at times, interrupted by applause.
"Mister President, Mister Speaker, members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, my fellow Americans. There have been few times in modern history where the nations of the world have been able to stand together and clearly see that one among them is an enemy. I have received confirmation of a series of events so tragic and evil that I didn't want to believe they were true: Over the past few weeks, the Turkish government has detained over fifteen-thousand Jewish people who live in and are citizens of Turkey. They were arrested for no reason other than their faith and their ethnic background. They included men, women, and children of all ages. At least nine-thousand of these civilians, along with five-thousand Congolese military peacekeepers who were trying to rescue the prisoners, were slaughtered by the Turkish Army and Air Force in a matter of minutes. Over fourteen-thousand people... This mindless slaughter of so many innocent civilians is an unacceptable act of violence without precedent in the modern era.
"This was done under orders from the Turkish President, Devlet Bahçeli. President Bahçeli has also ordered the detainment of Armenians, Kurds, and other religious and ethnic minorities throughout his country. He has led a calculated campaign to cripple the democratic institutions of Turkey by banning all but two political parties. His government has threatened the United States as well as our friends in the United Kingdom, and he has also threatened Greece, Israel, and Cyprus with invasion and forceful annexation. His armed forces have threatened any military force sent into the Mediterranean Sea, in contradiction of international law which his country has agreed to. United States intelligence agencies, the State Department, and the Department of Defense all have more than enough evidence to show that his armed forces are planning a massive attack and invasion of Israel as previously mentioned. Considering the events of the past few days, it's clear that this invasion would be to continue a premeditated and ruthless destruction of the Jewish people, Christians, and other minorities that he and his government do not see fit to exist. After attempts to conduct diplomacy were ignored, I ordered the formal withdraw of the American diplomatic mission to Turkey and the expulsion of the Turkish diplomatic mission in the United States. In response, the Turkish government threatened American civilians. And now yesterday the FBI confirmed to me that they have arrested nine people who were attempting to sneak into the United States with fake documents, all of which are believed to be Turkish spies.
"I have spoken with my cabinet and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Federal Government has been in contact with our allies and partners abroad who are also deeply concerned about the actions Turkey has taken and have promised to take. We have observed attempts at diplomacy to be repeatedly ignored. We have observed threats made in contradiction of international law, common diplomatic practices between civilized states, and basic decency. We have withstood an unprovoked attempt by the Turkish state to conduct espionage against our country. And we now know, without any shadow of a doubt, that the Turkish armed forces have committed crimes against mankind by order of their government, and have started a genocide.
"After considering the facts and weighing every option at our disposal, I have decided I have no choice but to ask that the Congress declare a state of war between the United States of America and the Republic of Turkey... There are times to let others solve their own problems, but there are times where we have a duty to humanity to rise up and fly to the defense of the innocent and the helpless. There are still thousands of Jews in Turkey, and an entire nation of them in Israel, who need our help. There are Christians and peaceful Muslims in Cyprus who don't want to live under the oppression of a Turkish regime, or worse. There's the nation of Greece that fought lifetimes to regain its independence from the Turks and will not just surrender it, and there are the millions of people in Turkey who are being oppressed by a radical and rogue government. Intervening in these troubles and stopping these atrocities is the right, and only, thing to do."
The President stepped back from his podium as the Congress assembled, and the rest of the crowd, erupted into a standing ovation that lasted minutes. Eventually the President and other visitors and people who weren't members of Congress or their associated staff would leave. Both houses of Congress immediately moved that a vote be held to declare war on the Republic of Turkey.