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IS THE US FINALLY CONFRONTING GENOCIDE?
September 10, 2014
http://www.horizonweekly.ca/news/details/48427
The Obama administration has refused to recognize the Armenian
genocide, despite repeated promises by candidate Obama to do so.
President Obama's plan to increase military action against ISIS is
based on the fact that ISIS is a "genocidal, territorial-grabbing,
caliphate-desiring quasi state," according to Secretary of State John
Kerry, speaking at the September 5 NATO summit talks.
If genocidal intention hasindeed become a central criteria for the
Obama administration in deciding whether to launch military strikes
abroad, it represents a significant new direction in U.S. foreign
policy--and a sharp break from the legacy of the president whom Mr.
Obama has always said he admires most.
At the time of his first election in 2008, Obama spoke of his desire
to govern in the spirit of his favorite predecessor, Franklin D.
Roosevelt. A Time magazine cover depicted Obama as an FDR look-alike,
and spokesmen for the president-elect said he was currently engrossed
in two new Roosevelt biographies. One of the authors commented to
reporters: "It's just nice that we're going to have a president that
has a strong sense of history."
Having a strong sense of history should include recognizing the flaws
of historical figures whom we otherwise admire. Although President
Obama has not explicitly criticized FDR's abandonment of the Jews
during the Holocaust, the policies of the Obama administration
increasingly suggest a repudiation of Roosevelt's view that human
rights crises abroad are none of America's business.
In 1933, President Roosevelt told his new ambassador to Nazi Germany,
William Dodd, that the persecution of Jews there "is not a [U.S.]
governmental affairs." He instructed Dodd to refrain from making any
official protests regarding the Jews except in the tiny handful of
cases involving German Jews who happened to be American citizens.
That attitude continued throughout the Holocaust years, to the point
of refusing to drop even a few bombs on Auschwitz or the railway lines
leading to it, even when U.S. planes were bombing German oil factories
adjacent to the camp in 1944. Roosevelt administration officials said
they could not "divert" military resources for non-military purposes.
Yet a few months later, they diverted American troops to rescue the
famous Lipizzaner dancing horses near the German-Czech border.
Until recently, President Obama's policy concerning genocide was
something of a roller-coaster.
On the one hand, he used military force to bring down the Muammar
Qaddafi regime in Libya, in 2011, on the grounds that Qaddafi was
preparing the mass murder of his opponents. "Some nations may be able
to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries," he said. "The
United States of America is different." He cited "preventing genocide"
as a legitimate basis for American intervention in Libya.
On the other hand, President Obama has never taken any steps to
bring about the arrest of Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir,
who was indicted by the International Criminal Court in 2009 for
sponsoring the Darfur genocide. In fact, the administration has not
even criticized governments that have hosted visits by Bashir.
Moreover, the Obama administration has refused to recognize the
Armenian genocide, despite repeated promises by candidate Obama to
do so. Turkey, which denies that the genocide took place, would be
offended if the United States told the truth. In deference to the
Turks, the administration has even refused to publicly display a
rug woven by Armenian orphans and given to the White House as a gift
in 1925.
A major change of U.S. policy on genocide appeared imminent last
September, when President Obama was poised to take military action
against Syrian dictator Bashar Assad for using poison gas. Secretary of
State John Kerry, explaining to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
the importance of not abandoning the persecuted, cited the voyage of
the St. Louis, "a ship that was turned away from the coast of Florida"
(by President Roosevelt), with many of its passengers subsequently
murdered in the Holocaust. "That's what's at stake here," he said.
Although that military action did not take place, the principle
of intervention which Kerry articulated regarding Syria may have
helped pave the way for the U.S. air strikes in Iraq last month,
which helped save thousands of members of the Yazidi religious group
who were threatened by ISIS.
The U.S. shift from ignoring genocide to pre-emptive action against
those who are planning genocide is far from complete. It remains to
be seen, for example, whether the administration will act against
others who have threatened genocide, such as Iran and Hamas.
Still, the new American stance regarding ISIS appears to be a step
in the right direction--and a welcome repudiation of that aspect of
Franklin D. Roosevelt's legacy.
Israel National News
September 10, 2014
http://www.horizonweekly.ca/news/details/48427
The Obama administration has refused to recognize the Armenian
genocide, despite repeated promises by candidate Obama to do so.
President Obama's plan to increase military action against ISIS is
based on the fact that ISIS is a "genocidal, territorial-grabbing,
caliphate-desiring quasi state," according to Secretary of State John
Kerry, speaking at the September 5 NATO summit talks.
If genocidal intention hasindeed become a central criteria for the
Obama administration in deciding whether to launch military strikes
abroad, it represents a significant new direction in U.S. foreign
policy--and a sharp break from the legacy of the president whom Mr.
Obama has always said he admires most.
At the time of his first election in 2008, Obama spoke of his desire
to govern in the spirit of his favorite predecessor, Franklin D.
Roosevelt. A Time magazine cover depicted Obama as an FDR look-alike,
and spokesmen for the president-elect said he was currently engrossed
in two new Roosevelt biographies. One of the authors commented to
reporters: "It's just nice that we're going to have a president that
has a strong sense of history."
Having a strong sense of history should include recognizing the flaws
of historical figures whom we otherwise admire. Although President
Obama has not explicitly criticized FDR's abandonment of the Jews
during the Holocaust, the policies of the Obama administration
increasingly suggest a repudiation of Roosevelt's view that human
rights crises abroad are none of America's business.
In 1933, President Roosevelt told his new ambassador to Nazi Germany,
William Dodd, that the persecution of Jews there "is not a [U.S.]
governmental affairs." He instructed Dodd to refrain from making any
official protests regarding the Jews except in the tiny handful of
cases involving German Jews who happened to be American citizens.
That attitude continued throughout the Holocaust years, to the point
of refusing to drop even a few bombs on Auschwitz or the railway lines
leading to it, even when U.S. planes were bombing German oil factories
adjacent to the camp in 1944. Roosevelt administration officials said
they could not "divert" military resources for non-military purposes.
Yet a few months later, they diverted American troops to rescue the
famous Lipizzaner dancing horses near the German-Czech border.
Until recently, President Obama's policy concerning genocide was
something of a roller-coaster.
On the one hand, he used military force to bring down the Muammar
Qaddafi regime in Libya, in 2011, on the grounds that Qaddafi was
preparing the mass murder of his opponents. "Some nations may be able
to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries," he said. "The
United States of America is different." He cited "preventing genocide"
as a legitimate basis for American intervention in Libya.
On the other hand, President Obama has never taken any steps to
bring about the arrest of Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir,
who was indicted by the International Criminal Court in 2009 for
sponsoring the Darfur genocide. In fact, the administration has not
even criticized governments that have hosted visits by Bashir.
Moreover, the Obama administration has refused to recognize the
Armenian genocide, despite repeated promises by candidate Obama to
do so. Turkey, which denies that the genocide took place, would be
offended if the United States told the truth. In deference to the
Turks, the administration has even refused to publicly display a
rug woven by Armenian orphans and given to the White House as a gift
in 1925.
A major change of U.S. policy on genocide appeared imminent last
September, when President Obama was poised to take military action
against Syrian dictator Bashar Assad for using poison gas. Secretary of
State John Kerry, explaining to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
the importance of not abandoning the persecuted, cited the voyage of
the St. Louis, "a ship that was turned away from the coast of Florida"
(by President Roosevelt), with many of its passengers subsequently
murdered in the Holocaust. "That's what's at stake here," he said.
Although that military action did not take place, the principle
of intervention which Kerry articulated regarding Syria may have
helped pave the way for the U.S. air strikes in Iraq last month,
which helped save thousands of members of the Yazidi religious group
who were threatened by ISIS.
The U.S. shift from ignoring genocide to pre-emptive action against
those who are planning genocide is far from complete. It remains to
be seen, for example, whether the administration will act against
others who have threatened genocide, such as Iran and Hamas.
Still, the new American stance regarding ISIS appears to be a step
in the right direction--and a welcome repudiation of that aspect of
Franklin D. Roosevelt's legacy.
Israel National News