Under Bush the House introduced a resolution to bring attention to the Armenian genocide under Turkish rule nearly 100 years ago.  The timing was horrible, since Bush was courting Turkish cooperation for the war in Iraq. The Anti Defamation League got involved and it became a sloppy mess. The resolution was withdrawn, but not without damaging our Turkish relations.

Yesterday the House Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday declared that the mass deportations and massacres of Armenians by the Turks  during World War I ought to be called a genocide.  What is the purpose of this action?

I do not doubt that the Armenians were ruthlessly starved and slaughtered by the Turks. It was a black page in anyone’s history.  But is it the place of the American Congress to rectify every case of mass inhumanity in history? Is it worth straining our relations with the few Arab allies we have in the Middle East.

The Armenian genocide is real and should be taught….. in history classes.

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