Friday, March 05, 2010

Obama: “Don’t mention the Armenian genocide!”

I remember an episode of Fawlty Towers in which Basil Fawlty (played by John Cleese, of course) has German guests and exhorts his staff, “Don’t mention the War!” Of course, Basil makes a total hash of things and ends up offending the guests who angrily proclaim Fawlty’s attempts to humor them “not funny.”

Fast forward to today and imagine Basil Obama exhorting, “Don’t mention the Armenian Genocide!” And, yes, Obama is making a hash of things. And it is really “not funny” at all.

You see, a House committee has passed a resolution onto the House floor declaring that the Turk genocide of 1.5 millions Armenians in 1915 was in fact genocide. The Turks aren’t taking this very well. And Obama wants to hush up the resolution, which once again breaks a campaign promise, by the way.

Now I actually commend Obama’s desire for good relations with Turkey. (Would he be so diligent about good relations with the UK!) We have historically sought good relations with nations with genocide and other atrocities in their recent histories. Germany and Japan come to mind. The difference is that, although forgiving, we have not sought to sweep history under the rug in order to keep those nations happy. And unlike Germany and Japan, Turkish policy toward Ottoman genocide of Armenians has been adamant and indignant denial.

So Obama’s policy of “Don’t mention the genocide!” is morally problematic at best. Many Armenians justifiably come to a harsher verdict. It most certainly feeds suspicions that Barack Hussein Obama is too quick to give Muslims a pass.

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