US President George W Bush has implored Congress to reject a bill that would officially classify the murder of 1.5 million Armenian citizens during World War I as an of act genocide.
A House Foreign Affairs committee passed the resolution by 27 votes to 21 and now it will go before the House in a vote that is expected to take place by mid November. Pundits are predicting that the resolution has a chance of passing although it doesn’t have the President’s blessing as he urged Congress to reject the bill citing national security issues and running the risk of endangering US troops stationed in Iraq.
Wasn’t it Bush who endangered the troops by sending them to Iraq under false pretences in the first place? The hypocrisy continues to run rampant and wild as Bush wrote a letter addressed to two prominent Armenians in the year 2000 stating that if he was elected President he would “make sure
that the nation would properly recognize the tragic suffering of the Armenian people.” The full text of the letter can be found here:
http://www.anca.org/press_releases/press_releases.php?prid=3
He is not the only President to break his pre-election promise to properly recognize the first genocide of the 20th century. In October of 2000, Bill Clinton urged Republican speaker of the House, J. Dennis Hastert to withdraw a resolution on the Armenian genocide just moments before it was to be voted upon in a packed House.
Turkish lawmakers visited Capital Hill last week warning of deteriorating relations if Congress passes the Armenian motion. Ankara has warned that it will also re-evaluate its position on the Iraq war which would be a logistical blow to the Bush regime. Defence Secretary Robert Gates pointed out that seventy percent of US air cargo and one-third of the fuel used in Iraq passes through the Incirlik base in Southern Turkey..
Many other nations including Canada, Belgium, Greece and Russia have recognized the killings as genocide and Turkey has reacted in a shameless manner by denouncing them. When the French government passed legislation in 2001 to recognize the genocide, Ankara reacted by freezing official visits to France and canceling a contract to purchase an observation satellite from the French firm Alcatel.
Bush is quick and eager to add “rogue” countries to “evil axis” lists in State of the Union addresses all the while proselytizing about morality, faith and family values to appease the religious right yet finds it acceptable to lobby against a resolution that will accept the death of 1.5 million Armenian Christians as genocide. The Pharisee with the 24% approval rating continues to take pride in America acting as the world’s “Morality Police” all the while he takes turns dancing with the devil.
Max De Luca is a freelance writer who lives in London, Ontario Canada. His short stories and articles have appeared in such publications as the Istanbul Literature Review, Inscribed Magazine and Mobius: A Journal for Social Change. He is influenced by the work of Kurt Vonnegut Jr, Hunter S Thompson and Howard Zinn. Read other posts by Max De Luca.
