The Real Inconvenient Truth

Let me be the first person to call Turkey a WAHmbulance

I don't know if any of you are familiar with the subject matter of House Resolution 398, but you are about to be well-versed in it.

Essentially, the bill declares that the United States officially recognizes the actions of Ottoman Turks during World War I, resulting in the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians, to be an act of "genocide".

The verbiage of this bill is not a new concept; it has come through the House previously, though it has never garnered the support that it has this time around, and has never been passed by the House Committee of Foreign Affairs, nor brought to the floor of the assembled House (which in all likelihood will occur for Resolution 398).

It is an ATROCITY that to this point the US does not officially acknowledge the systematic extermination of the Armenians during World War I. Clarence Ussher, who was an American doctor in Turkey during World War I actually documented such actions in his memoirs! In many European nations, publically denying the Armenian genocide is a fast track to a prison cell (France recently passed a law in this vein). It is made an even more egregious offense, because recognizing the event at this point would be, as our administration has put it, inconvenient. As former A&M President Robert Gates avered, "his opposition to the resolution Thursday, saying the measure could hurt relations at a time when U.S. forces in Iraq rely heavily on Turkish permission to use their airspace for U.S. air cargo flights." So, in addition to waging an illegal war effort, now we condone the premeditated and truculent annihilation of a group of people. Fantastic. The executive branch of the government has lobbied quite heavily against this bill, but it does appear it will at least reach a vote on the floor of the full House.

Naturally, the subject is still one of intense controversy. It remains to this day an incredibly divisive issue, as Turkey has always reputed its involvement in such activities. While I was not in Turkey around 1915-1917, I can say that I am fairly certain my great-grandfather did not immigrate from Armenia during that period just for the hell of it. Our administration using the excuse of being "inconvenient" to further another activity of extremely dubious legitimacy as a reason not to recognize the Armenian genocide, sickens me to the core of my being. And anyone who knows me, knows that political issues rarely trouble me to the point of a diatribe...but in this case I felt a rant was appropriate.

And thank your lucky stars I'm not Coach Fran, or would I have already found a way to charge you 2500 bucks to read this opinion.

"Moreover, I advise that Fran must be canned."