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CONDI RICE BRAGS ABOUT KILLING GENOCIDE RESOLUTION
By: Khatchig Mouradian
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2011/11/04/condi-rice/
Condoleezza Rice
In the newly released No higher Honor: A Memoir of My years in
Washington, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice brags about
her efforts to kill the Armenian Genocide Resolution in Congress in
1991 and 2007, dismissing 1915 as "something that had happened almost
a hundred years before" and about which "there are many historical
interpretations."
Rice reveals how in 1991, as the acting special assistant for
European affairs for the Bush Administration, she was tasked with the
responsibility "to mobilize an effort to defeat the [Armenian genocide]
resolution in the House of Representatives."
"The Turks, who had been essential in the first Gulf War effort,"
Rice remembers, "were outraged at the prospect of being branded for an
event that had taken place almost a century before-under the Ottomans!"
"Back then I had succeeded in my assigned task," Rice congratulates
herself, noting that in the years that followed presidents and
secretaries of state continued "to fight off the dreaded Armenian
genocide resolutions," pushed forward, of course, by non-other than
"the powerful Armenian American lobby."
Pulling a page from the Turkish state's official narrative on
1915, Rice notes that the massacres of Armenians are better left
to scholars. "Tragic" as these deaths were, "it was a matter for
historians-not politicians-to decide how best to label what had
occurred," she observes.
Rice then proceeds to discuss her second encounter with the "dreaded"
resolution in 2007, "in the midst of tension on the Turkish-Iraqi
border and with Ankara's forces on high alert." Rice recounts how she
begged House Speaker Pelosi to block the vote and the latter said that
"there was little she could do."
She continues: "Defense Secretary Bob gates and I delivered a press
statement outside the White House, reiterating our opposition and
saying that our own commanders in Iraq had raised the prospect of
losing critical bases in Turkey. Eight former secretaries of state
signed a letter opposing congressional action on the issue."
At this point, as if not satisfied with having already argued once
a few paragraphs before that 1915 was old and passe, Rice repeats
herself: "All this occurred over a resolution condemning something
that had happened almost a hundred years before."
The former Secretary of State then notes that the Bush Administration
persuaded Ankara that everything possible was being done to prevent
a vote. The Administration eventually succeeds in its efforts.
Rice proceeds to chastise Congress' tendency "to grandstand on
hot-button issues." "This was all the more galling," she adds,
"because the democratically elected Armenian government had little
interest in the resolution. In fact, it was engaged in an effort to
improve relations with Turkey, and it didn't need it either."
In two pages, Rice manages to repeatedly trivialize and deny the
Armenian genocide; mention, twice, that it's a disputed, century-old
issue; rehash the Turkish official narrative; and brag about killing
its recognition efforts twice!
No higher honor indeed!
By: Khatchig Mouradian
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2011/11/04/condi-rice/
Condoleezza Rice
In the newly released No higher Honor: A Memoir of My years in
Washington, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice brags about
her efforts to kill the Armenian Genocide Resolution in Congress in
1991 and 2007, dismissing 1915 as "something that had happened almost
a hundred years before" and about which "there are many historical
interpretations."
Rice reveals how in 1991, as the acting special assistant for
European affairs for the Bush Administration, she was tasked with the
responsibility "to mobilize an effort to defeat the [Armenian genocide]
resolution in the House of Representatives."
"The Turks, who had been essential in the first Gulf War effort,"
Rice remembers, "were outraged at the prospect of being branded for an
event that had taken place almost a century before-under the Ottomans!"
"Back then I had succeeded in my assigned task," Rice congratulates
herself, noting that in the years that followed presidents and
secretaries of state continued "to fight off the dreaded Armenian
genocide resolutions," pushed forward, of course, by non-other than
"the powerful Armenian American lobby."
Pulling a page from the Turkish state's official narrative on
1915, Rice notes that the massacres of Armenians are better left
to scholars. "Tragic" as these deaths were, "it was a matter for
historians-not politicians-to decide how best to label what had
occurred," she observes.
Rice then proceeds to discuss her second encounter with the "dreaded"
resolution in 2007, "in the midst of tension on the Turkish-Iraqi
border and with Ankara's forces on high alert." Rice recounts how she
begged House Speaker Pelosi to block the vote and the latter said that
"there was little she could do."
She continues: "Defense Secretary Bob gates and I delivered a press
statement outside the White House, reiterating our opposition and
saying that our own commanders in Iraq had raised the prospect of
losing critical bases in Turkey. Eight former secretaries of state
signed a letter opposing congressional action on the issue."
At this point, as if not satisfied with having already argued once
a few paragraphs before that 1915 was old and passe, Rice repeats
herself: "All this occurred over a resolution condemning something
that had happened almost a hundred years before."
The former Secretary of State then notes that the Bush Administration
persuaded Ankara that everything possible was being done to prevent
a vote. The Administration eventually succeeds in its efforts.
Rice proceeds to chastise Congress' tendency "to grandstand on
hot-button issues." "This was all the more galling," she adds,
"because the democratically elected Armenian government had little
interest in the resolution. In fact, it was engaged in an effort to
improve relations with Turkey, and it didn't need it either."
In two pages, Rice manages to repeatedly trivialize and deny the
Armenian genocide; mention, twice, that it's a disputed, century-old
issue; rehash the Turkish official narrative; and brag about killing
its recognition efforts twice!
No higher honor indeed!