Note: In the course of this post I will suggest the reasons why

1) Turkey threatens to invade Iraq (it's a bluff to get money)

2) Turkey opposes Armenian Genocide recognition

3) Bush lies down for the Turks

4) Why Armenians do not regard Genocide recognition as merely symbolic.

5) Why Nancy Pelosi betrayed Armenian-Americans

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Ron Paul opposes any recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and his excuses are even sillier than his excuses for voting against the impeachment of Cheney.

Paul has never voted to support Armenians, as can be seen from his record here.

In a YouTube video, Paul says recognition will cause ”chaos.” Of course, it is Turkish arrogance that causes this “chaos,” but Paul blames Armenians – the victims – thus allowing Turkey to have a veto over the USA. In that same video, he says recognition would be “unconstitutional” (excuse me?) and asks why we should pay attention to something that happened “almost a hundred years ago.”

(So why can't we forget the Jewish holocaust hoax, which allegedly happened over sixty years ago?)

Ron Paul calls himself “anti-war,” yet he opposes Genocide recognition, perhaps fearing it will hamper Bush’s genocide against Iraq. Paul thinks recognition will cause Turkey to close the U.S. airbase at Incirlik, which is nonsense, since – according to Ron Paul himself -- the USA pays Turkey billions a year for this airbase. Will the Turks throw that away? Of course not.

Genocide recognition involves no money to Armenia, and no new American laws, treaties, agreements, or obligations. Nor will it affect U.S. policy toward Turkey. Why does Paul oppose it? His excuses don’t wash. My guess is that lobbyist Robert L. Livingston got to him. (More on this below.)

Even Bush calls it a “historic mass killing,” but no one dares offend the Turks by calling the Genocide a “genocide.” Strange how the USA can formally apologize to Japanese people for the internment camps in World WAR II, but be timid on this issue for fear of displeasing Turks.

Presidential candidates Dodd, Biden, Obama, Edwards, and Kucinich support Genocide recognition. Kucinich also supports the impeachment of Cheney.

Opponents include Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-TX.

Twenty-four nations have recognized the Genocide. Some of these are…

Uruguay 1972
Argentina 1985
Russia 1994
Canada and Lithuania 1996
Italy and Lebanon 1997
Belgium and England 1998
France 2001
Slovakia and the European Union 2004

The Genocide began on April 24, 1915. Therefore several U.S. state legislatures (e.g. North Dakota) have made April 24 a Genocide recognition day.

Recognition will increase global pressure on Turkey to end its crippling fourteen-year blockade against Armenia, which has caused the prices of many items in Armenia to double. Turkey imposed the blockade in 1993 during the war between Armenia and (Turkish-Israeli ally) Azerbaijan.

While Americans grovel before Turks, Europe uses the Genocide to slow down Turkey’s drive to become part of the EU. On December 15, 2004, for example, the European parliament passed three amendments calling upon Turkey to acknowledge the Genocide.

France has 500,000 Armenians, which include people like Serge Tchuruk, CEO and Chairman of Alcatel-Lucent, a telecommunications giant with revenues of $25 billion per year. World-famous French singer / actor Charles Aznavour is Armenian. There are over 30 French memorials to the Genocide. On 12 October 2006, the French parliament declared it illegal to deny the Genocide. The next day, vandals sawed off a 660-pound bronze memorial statue in the Paris suburb of Chaville, and carried it away.

Hillary Clinton co-sponsored S.Res.106, the Armenian Genocide Resolution, but like the traitor Nancy Pelosi (see below) Hillary will probably change her mind after she gets the Democratic nomination in Denver Colorado (Aug 25-28, 2008).

Al Gore supported recognition when he was in the Senate, but changed when he became Vice-President under Bill Clinton, who bowed to the Turks. On October 19, 2000, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert stopped H.R. 596 from reaching the floor of the House, even though the Armenian National Committee of America had secured a majority of votes for passage. (It would have passed the full House if it had been put to a vote.) Hastert admitted he did this at the behest of Bill Clinton, who said recognizing the Genocide would make Turkey unhappy, and therefore harm U.S. “national security.” Congressman Frank Pallone protested that Clinton and Hastert had, “succumbed to the threats of the Turkish government,” threats “against American soldiers.”

Bush Senior said the same thing when he was President (1988-92). Bush Senor said he was “sensitive to the close relationship the United States has with our friend and ally, Turkey,” and was worried about the resolution “damaging our national
security.”

Giuliani has been somewhat quiet about recognition, but his “Middle East advisors” (Michael Rubin, Norman Podhoretz, and Daniel Pipes) are militant Zionists, and take Turkey’s side.

Currently there are two Genocide recognition bills in Congress; one in the Senate (S.Res.106), and one in the House (HR 106). The Senate bill has little chance of passing. The House bill was introduced by Rep Adam B. Schiff (D-CA) on 30 Jan 2007, with 160 co-sponsors. On 10 October 07 the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved it by a 27 to 21 vote. The resolution has yet to be voted on in the House floor.

Before the Committee voted, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the USA had a ”moral obligation” to recognize the Genocide. Pelosi said timing is urgent, since many survivors are elderly. She also said there is never a “good time” for such things, but they must be done anyway. Then, immediately after the Committee vote, Pelosi reversed herself and said this is “not a good time” for recognition. A dozen other lawmakers pulled their names from the measure. Other Democrats that supported recognition moved to slow down the issue until "timing is more favorable.”

“This is about Turkey's plans, not a U.S. resolution.” Pelosi said, explaining her sudden betrayal.

Genocide recognition bills have been introduced in Congress for decades. When Adam Schiff (D-CA) introduced the latest bill this year, Pelosi promised Schiff she would support recognition if a committee approved a bill. The day after the committee approved it, Pelosi went the other way. Now that she’s been proven a liar, her re-election in late 2008 might be difficult. The Armenian-American PAC has contributed to her in the past. About half of Armenian-Americans live in California (roughly 232,000) with the largest concentration in Schiff’s district. Nancy “impeachment-is-off-the-table” Pelosi is also from California.

California Armenians don’t take kindly to such abuse. In the 1970’s a Turkish dance group was scheduled to perform at the Pasadena Cultural Arts Center (in California) but the Armenian community, including old women, drove police back into the Center and shut down the event.

John Murtha wants Congress to drop the matter altogether. He said that as many as 60 Democrats would oppose the resolution, and that it would fail any vote of the full House.

And so Congress grovels before the Turks once again. Rep. Albio Sires (D-NJ) criticized the Turks for putting “a sword” over his head. Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY) said “shame” on Turkey for threatening to destabilize Iraq. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) doubted Turkey’s standing as an ally in light of its threats to “cut off” American military troops. Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) criticized Turkey for trying to “intimidate” the USA. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) attacked “the Turkish government's attempts to intervene in the business of the U.S. Congress with over-the-top threats.”

SO…WHAT NOW?

Armenians have vowed to keep fighting. They know they have truth on their side, and have a just cause (unlike the Jewish holocaust hoax / extortion racket).

Armenians will “b>never give up on this issue.

THE ROLE OF LOBBYING

What’s behind all this? Israel? Zionism? No, a lot of it has to do with ordinary politics. For example, the Turks don’t have a powerful lobby in the USA, but they do have Robert L. Livingston of Louisiana, who retired from Congress in 1999 amid disclosures about extramarital affairs and other mischief. Since then, Livingston has been the Turks’ main man for blocking Genocide recognition. He succeeded twice before, and was paid $12 million in fees from the Turks. Mr. Livingston regularly meets with Cheney, and used to meet with Karl Rove, when Rove was still in the White House. He escorts Turkish dignitaries when they come to Washington. He got several Republicans to remove their names from a growing list of co-sponsors of the Genocide resolution. The day after Rep Adam B. Schiff (D-CA) introduced the Genocide resolution (30 Jan 2007) Livingston called Representative Bobby Jindal (R-LA) and got Jindal to remove his name.

Livingston can do all this because the Turks give him money to shower on House and Senate members. For example, in December 2006 Livingston gave $10,000 to Jindal’s campaign for governor of Louisiana. In the last election cycle, Livingston gave more than $200,000 to other candidates. Livingston also works for the governments of Azerbaijan, the Congo Republic, the Cayman Islands, and others.

In February 2007, just after Rep. Schiff filed the Genocide resolution, Livingston gave $3,000 to Murtha’s campaign, on condition that Murtha oppose Genocide recognition. Immediately afterward, on February 8, 2007, Murtha wrote Nancy Pelosi and asked her not to allow a floor vote. Representative Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, signed up as a co-sponsor on June 26, but changed his mind two days later when Livingston called him. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) signed on as well, but withdrew his support on June 27 after meeting with Mr. Livingston, plus Mr. Jindal and a member of the Turkish Parliament.

Records filed at the Justice Department show that the Turks have given at least $3.2 million to U.S. lobbyists and public relations since August 2006. (And that’s only what the Turks admit to.)

They gave Representative Stephen J. Solarz $165,000 for lobbying against Genocide recognition.

That’s the Republican side. For the Democratic side, the Turks employ Dick Gephardt of Missouri. When former House majority leader Gephardt was in Congress, he supported Armenia, and co-sponsored a genocide resolution. In 2005 he retired from Congress and became a senior counsel at the law firm of DLA Piper, which is also connected with former Secretary of Defense William Cohen. (More on Cohen below.) In March 2007 Gephardt began working for Turkey under a yearlong contract worth $1.2 million.

Meanwhile Armenians rely on grass roots activism, although from August 2006 to April 2007Armenia itself gave about $300,000 to the public relations firm of Burson-Marsteller. Armenians will have to start paying Congressmen, like the Turks do. They don’t have to fork over a lot of money, as long as bribes are liquid and untraceable. Murtha was bought with just $3,000.

WHY IS THIS SO IMPORTANT TO BUSH AND THE TURKS?

The Bush-Zionist plan is to break up Iraq, which will allow private foreign corporations to move in and start pumping oil. These corporations include Hunt Oil in Texas, which is extremely close to Bush, and which got Bush’s help to enter Yemen. Oil will travel along the pipeline from the Kirkuk oil fields to Haifa Israel. The pipeline already exists, and can easily be seen from the air, but its pumping stations need upgrades. It is guarded by three U.S. bases that have Marines and Special Forces personnel (not regular Army). Hints about the pipeline are occasionally dropped into the media in order to gauge what Americans think about dying to give Israel direct access to Iraqi oil. Northern Iraq holds 40 percent of Iraq’s oil, and 6 percent of the entire world’s oil.

Bush’s breakup of Iraq was supposed to happen on 15 November 07, when the Kurdish Regional Government intended to have a public referendum on including Mosul and the Kirkuk oil fields in the Kurdish sphere of control. However, the Barzani clan (which rules Iraqi Kurds) accepted Bush’s request to postpone the referendum until late December. Now the Barzani clan has agreed again to postpone the breakup until May 2008. The reason for the delay is that every time the Kurds have moved to break away from Iraq, violence has escalated. The Kurds have already forced many Arabs to leave Kirkuk, and are paying Turkmen $12,000 per person to move south. Kirkuk has Arabs, Kurds, and Turkish-speaking Turkmen. The Bush / Israeli / Kurdish plan is to have only Kurds in Kirkuk, which Kurds regard as their capitol. Another delay will give Bush enough time to position U.S. troops up north to ensure a smooth breakup of Iraq. Iran wanted a delay of two years, but the Kurds refused.

What about Turkey’s threatened invasion of Kurdish Iraq? This is a bluff designed to get more money out of Bush. The “war on terror” against the PKK is a Bush / Turkish cover story meant for world consumption. On 5 Nov 07, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan met Bush at the White House, seeking money in addition to the billions per year for the Incirlik air base -- but instead of money, Bush offered to share intelligence on the PKK, and offered to let Turkey have greater integration into NATO.

Erdogan went away angry.

Turkey’s government keeps the Turkish people stirred up about the PKK and Genocide recognition in order to get popular approval for government action -- such as a possible invasion of Iraq, which is blackmail to get more baksheesh (payoffs) from Bush. (I believe that most PKK attacks are false flag operations by the Turkish military, which constantly searches for legitimacy in order to politically offset Islamic elements in Turkey.)

Consider the map below. If Turkey invades Iraq, then the oil from northern Iraq to Ceyhan will stop altogether. Currently this pipeline from northern Iraq only carries about 800 barrels per day, but that still means transit fees for Turkey. Moreover Iran, which fights the Kurdish PEJAK movement, might invade from the east. (This is the problem with the “war on terror”: anyone can play the game. The only difference between “terrorism” and “national security measures” is the size of the budget.)

QUESTION: Doesn’t Turkey fear that Kurdish independence in northern Iraq will embolden the PKK? No, that’s propaganda again. There are 17 million Kurds in Turkey, few of which have any desire to break away. Istanbul is home to 2 million Kurds, which makes it the world's biggest Kurdish city. Thousands of middle-class Kurds have summer homes on the Aegean coast, and have little interest in politics. They want their children to learn English, not Kurdish. Kurds and Turks both tend to be secular, and have other cultural similarities.

Moreover, Turkey does a tremendous amount of business with the Kurds, and will do even more business when the Kirk-to-Haifa oil starts to flow (although Turkey will lose some transit fees). More ethnic Turks than Turkish Kurds do business in Iraq. Most construction companies in northern Iraq are Turkish. In Irbil (northern Iraq’s largest city) construction has begun on a $1 billion shopping and office complex. Most of the food consumed in northern Iraq comes from Turkey. Turkish products line every store shelf. Turkish investors and businesses are powering much of Iraqi Kurdistan's economic boom. About $3 billion in commerce flows between Turkey and Iraq through the border city of Harbur alone. Turkey grants a one-year free visa for Iraqis landing at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, in order to promote commerce, communication, and tourism between the two countries. Trade has blossomed since the invasion of Iraq. Kurdish businesses have embraced Turkish goods, and Kurds in Turkey make nice profits by hauling in cheaper goods from Iraq.

Meanwhile Turkey buys a lot of weapons from U.S. companies, because they get good deals and favorable credit terms.

All of the above would be destroyed if Turkey invades. An invasion will also anger Bush and Israel, which are both Turkish allies, and which both want the Kirkuk-to-Haifa pipeline. Moreover, the 200,000-strong Peshmurga (Kurdish militia) in Iraq will fight back, and will link up with the PKK. Iraqi Kurds will start to buy from Syria and Iran, rather than from Turkey. The Baku-to-Ceyhan pipeline will be attacked. Kurds in poor Turkish borderland areas like Cizre depend on how fast and freely their men can roll trucks in and out of Iraq. If their livelihoods are cut off, they will join the PKK.

Turkey knows that invasion would hurt Turkey most of all. It’s all a bluff.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that U.S. objections would not stop Turkey from invading Iraq. That is meant for the Turkish masses. Reports on Turkey's state-run Anatolia news agency about military activity are deliberately vague, and never indicate whether Turkish pilots have crossed the border. It is typical Turkish bravado and posturing. They are a childish and arrogant people. When bill Clinton checkmated Genocide recognition, Turkish Ambassador to Washington Baki Ilkin said recognition would be “a disservice to Armenia” because “Armenia needs Turkey more than Turkey needs Armenia.”

Wow. So does the USA need Turkey more than Turkey needs the USA?

When France officially recognized the Genocide in 2001, Turkey screamed, recalled its ambassador from Paris, and cancelled several defense contracts. Months later the Turks realized they had burned themselves, and started doing business with France again. By January 2002 they had normalized its relations with France. Any Turkish threat, if carried out, would backfire.

Turkey is a classic bully. Slap him in the face, and wets his pants. And yet the USA allows itself to be blackmailed into denying the evidence of a colossal crime
recorded in America’s own archives.

Bush lies down for Turkey because the war creates an unstable situation. Whether or not Turkey invades, Turkey can complicate Bush's plans to breakup Iraq and start sending oil to Israel. These plans have been in the works since before Bush seized power.

BAKSHEESH

Turkey does all this because it wants a piece of the pie as private oil companies start to pump northern Iraq’s oil. The Kurds have signed 15 exploration and exportation contracts with 20 international companies since August 2007. Turkey sees all this and demands MONEY in return for allowing it. The sudden furor about the PKK occurred because the Kurdish Regional Government is about to break away from Iraq. This breakaway is fine with the Turks, who hate Arabs anyway -- but the Turks want more and more baksheesh. Hence they interpret the Genocide recognition as a slap in the face from the "stingy" USA, even though the recognition does not condemn present-day Turkey. Again, they want MONEY, and lots of it. They feel entitled to it. In a recent survey of Turks, two thirds of Turks who oppose Genocide recognition agree that the Genocide occurred. They just don’t like being reminded of it.

Before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Turkey had designs on northern Iraq’s oil, but Turkey allowed the USA to invade in return for Baksheesh. Now Turkey wants more.

The Incirlik Air Base has been in Turkey since 1951, and was expanded during Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait. (“Incirlik” in Turkish means “place of fig trees.”) It was expanded again for the U.S. invasion of Iraq. With each expansion, the U.S. pays larger and larger fees to Turkey, but for the arrogant Turks it is never enough.

ZIONIST HYPOCRISY

Two months ago, two Zionist Jews -- Madeleine Albright (former Sec of State) and William Cohen (former Sec of Defense) – wrote a letter to Congress against recognizing the Armenian Genocide. On 13 Nov 07, those same two Zionists stood in front of TV cameras at the National Press Club in Washington, declaring that they are co-chairing a new "Genocide Prevention Task Force."

Cohen, with a straight face, said the task force is going “to look certainly to the past for lessons” in order to prepare recommendations to the U.S. government on how best to respond to future threats of genocide. He said, “We can no longer live in a state of denial or willful indifference.”

Wow. The Cohen Group is affiliated with DLA Piper, one of the major lobbying firms hired by the Turkish government at $100,000 per month to maintain state of denial and willful indifference.

Both Albright and Cohen said this is “not the right time” to discuss the Armenian Genocide. You see, an extermination campaign is not a genocide if it’s not politically convenient, or if the USA, Israel, or their allies do it. A “genocide” is defined by who does it, not by what it is.

Cohen said: “I don’t know that the UN has declared that genocide occurred in the Armenian situation.” Perhaps he should read a book once in a while. In 1985 the UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, by a vote of 15-1, adopted a report that included a section acknowledging the Armenian Genocide.

At the 13 November press conference, Cohen was asked whether the Task Force would investigate the mass violation of human rights in Palestine. He answered: “On the issue of whether genocide is taking place in the West Bank and Gaza – certainly that will be part of what the task force is looking at.” Hours later, Cohen and Albright said they would NOT “determine which situations, past or present, constitute genocide in the West Bank and Gaza.”

Just as evil is another Zionist Jew, Jane Harman (D-CA), who is now with a task force to shut down Internet “hate sites” (like this one). She sent a private letter to Nancy Pelosi saying she would keep her name as co-sponsor of the Genocide resolution (because she has a lot of Armenians in her district) but she would vote against it. Harman tried to benefit from the continued support of the Armenian-American community by making them think she was on their side, while she quietly undermined the resolution.

THE RESOLUTION

Here are some interesting items from the Genocide resolution itself. (.pdf)

•The Armenian Genocide is documented with overwhelming
evidence in the national archives of Austria, France, Germany, England, Russia, the United States, the Vatican and many other countries. This vast body of evidence attests
to the same facts, the same events, and the same consequences.

•The United States National Archives and Record Administration holds complete documentation on the Armenian Genocide, especially in the Archives’ holdings under Record Group 59 of the U.S. Department of State, files 867.00 and 867.40, which are open to the public.

•Henry Morgenthau, U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1913 to 1916, organized protests against the Armenian Genocide by officials of many countries. Many of those officials were from allies of the Ottoman Empire.

•Ambassador Morgenthau described to the U.S. State Dept. the policy of the Ottoman Empire as ‘‘a campaign of race extermination.’’ On July 16, 1915, U.S. Secretary of State Robert Lansing instructed Morgenthau that the ‘‘Department approves your procedure . . . to stop Armenian persecution.’’

•President Woodrow Wilson encouraged the formation of the organization known as Near East Relief, chartered by an Act of Congress, which gave $116,000,000 from 1915 to 1930 in aid Armenian Genocide survivors, including 132,000 orphans who became foster children of the American people.

•On April 13, 1920, General James Harbord, leader of the American Military Mission to Armenia, reported to the U.S. Senate. His report said, ‘‘mutilation, violation, torture, and death have left haunting memories in a hundred beautiful Armenian valleys. The traveler in that region is seldom free from the evidence of this most colossal crime of all the ages.’’

•On May 11, 1920, the U.S. passed Senate Resolution 359, which stated in part, ‘‘the testimony adduced at the hearings have clearly established the truth of the reported massacres, plus other atrocities the Armenian people have suffered.’’

•Raphael Lemkin, who coined the term ‘‘genocide’’ in 1944, and who was the earliest proponent of the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, invoked the Armenian case as a definitive example of genocide in the 20th century.

•On December 11, 1946, at Lemkin’s urging, the U.N. adopted General Assembly Resolution 96(1). This was the U.N.’s first resolution against genocide of any kind.

•In 1948, the United Nations War Crimes Commission invoked the Armenian Genocide as, ‘‘Precisely one of the types of acts which the modern term ‘crimes against humanity’ is intended to cover.’’

•The Armenian Genocide was used as a legal precedent for the Nuremberg tribunals. (I add, however, that Armenians encourage people to scrutinize the Genocide, dig at killing sites if necessary, and carefully examine the physical evidence. Jews, of course, will not allow any digging at any so-called “holocaust” site, and no physical research. The Armenian Genocide is a realgenocide, unlike the Jewish hoax.)

•House Joint Resolution 148, adopted on April 8, 1975, resolved: ‘‘April 24, 1975, is hereby designated as ‘National Day of Remembrance of Man’s Inhumanity to Man.’ The President of the United States is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to observe such day as a day of remembrance for all the victims of genocide, especially those of Armenian ancestry.’’

•House Joint Resolution 247 – adopted on 10 September 1984 -- resolved that, ‘‘April 24, 24 1985, is hereby designated as ‘National Day of Remembrance of Man’s Inhumanity to Man’, and the President of the United States is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to observe such day as a day of remembrance for all the victims of genocide, especially the one and one-half million people of Armenian ancestry . . .’’

• Independent authorities and eye-witnesses have reliably estimated that at least a million, and possibly well over half of the Armenian population, were killed or death marched. This is corroborated by government reports in the United States, by records in German and British archives, and by statements of contemporary diplomats in the Ottoman Empire, including those of Germany, an ally of the Ottoman Empire.

•On April 30, 1981, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, an independent Federal agency, unanimously resolved that the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum would include the Armenian Genocide in the Museum, and has since done so.

•In 1982 the U.S. State Department claimed that the facts of the Armenian Genocide were ambiguous. The State Department retracted its claim in 1993, when the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia noted that the claim of ambiguity, ‘‘contradicted longstanding United States policy. ’’

•On 5 June 1996, the House adopted an amendment to House Bill 3540 (the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act) to reduce aid to Turkey by $3,000,000 until the Turkish Government acknowledged the Armenian Genocide, and took steps to honor the memory of its victims.

•On 24 April 1998, President Clinton stated: ‘‘This year, as in the past, we join with Armenian-Americans throughout the nation in commemorating one of the saddest chapters in the history of this century, the deportations and massacres of a million and a half Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in the years 1915–1923.’’ (But Clinton still opposed formal recognition.)
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On 24 April 2003, President Bush gave an address from the White House in which he said, “Today marks the anniversary of the mass killings and forced exile of countless Armenians in the final days of the Ottoman Empire…The suffering that befell the Armenian people in 1915 is a tragedy for all humanity, which the world should not forget. I join the Armenian-American community and Armenians around the world in morning the horrendous loss of life.”

So, yes, millions were exterminated, but it was not a “genocide,” because the Turks say it wasn’t.

When Bush was still on the campaign trail in 1999, he pledged “to ensure that our nation properly recognizes” the genocidal campaign that Armenians were subjected to.” Bush then stole the White House. On the first April 24th after that, he refused to mention to dreaded “G” word, even though mourned the “tragedy,” the “infamous killings” and “forced exile and annihilation,” as “terrible events” that “darkened the 20th century and continue to haunt us to this day.” (His speech never changes from year to year.)

Most Zionists don’t like the word “genocide,” since it would threaten their “holocaust” monopoly, but the word is allowed in Israel itself. On April 27, 1994, Deputy Foreign Minister Yossi Beilin proclaimed on the floor of the Knesset, in answer to the claims of the Turkish Ambassador, that "It was not war. It was most certainly massacre and genocide, something the world must remember.”

Even some Zionists recognize the Genocide. Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, harshly criticized the recent threats by the Turkish government. "This is an ugly and inappropriate threat by Turkey. I don't think Israel or America or anyone should respond to this type of inappropriate threat." Elsewhere Klein said, "The Jewish community should recognize the Armenian Genocide as a fact, because virtually every historian and scholar of note in this area calls it a genocide. As friends of Turkey, we need to encourage them to recognize the truth, honor the victims, and be done with it. This would only enhance Turkey's standing in the world."

The only two countries that actively deny the Genocide are Turkey and the USA.

Bush will fire anyone who calls the Genocide a “genocide.” John Marshall Evans, a career U.S. diplomat with extensive experience in Central and Eastern Europe, became Bush’s ambassador to Armenia in August 2004. Six months later (February 2005) Evans made a trip to California. At three different meetings with Armenian-American groups, when asked about Washington's lack of official recognition of the Genocide, Evans said, "I will today call it the Armenian Genocide." In response, Bush’s State Department demanded Evans’s resignation, and got it.

WHAT’S IN A WORD?

I said above that recognition is more than symbolic. The main issue is Turkey’s blockade against Armenia. Ambassador Evans, who spent time in Yerevan, said most people in Armenia do not put Genocide recognition at the top of their list of importance. People are far more concerned about social stability, employment, and so forth. The Genocide is an issue because it’s wrapped up in Turkish arrogance and the Turkish blockade.

There are people alive today who survived it, and saw what happened. Some were brought to Washington when the House Foreign Affairs Committee took a vote on 10 October 07. Were their memories fuzzy and dubious? I don’t think so. When human beings become very elderly, they remember what happened in their childhood more clearly than they remember what happened last month.

It’s time for the USA to tell Turkey to get stuffed.

And as for Ron Paul, my doubts about him continue to grow.

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