US FOREIGN POLICY AND MORALITY: AMERICAN JOURNALIST'S ANALYSIS ON

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US FOREIGN POLICY AND MORALITY: AMERICAN JOURNALIST'S ANALYSIS ON THE EXAMPLE OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

http://armenpress.am/eng/news/730860/us-foreign-policy-and-morality-american-journalist%E2%80%99s-analysis-on-the-example-of-armenian-genocide.html
19:47, 28 August, 2013

YEREVAN, AUGUST 28, ARMENPRESS: The United States helped protect
the last Middle Eastern tyrant thought to use chemical weapons. That
dictator was Iraq's Saddam Hussein. Because he was fighting Iran in
the 1980s, the Reagan administration fed him secret intelligence. And
because his country bought U.S. crops, farm-state politicians fought
off sanctions.

About this writes journalist of "Mcclathly" periodical Michael Doyle
when discussing relations of morality and American foreign policy.

He writes that now, amid allegations of chemical weapons use by Syria,
the Obama administration is preparing a case for military action. Moral
assertions will be paramount, as in Secretary of State John Kerry's
declaration Monday that "our sense of basic humanity is offended."

"History, though, offers a harsher perspective. From Iraq and Syria,
to Rwanda and Armenia, morality as a motive in U.S. foreign policy is
more contingent than absolute. "It's quite selective. The government
knew of the fact that Iraq was using chemical weapons, and did not
deter them," writes the journalist, reports "Armenpress".

In his opinion the most obvious example of this is the struggle over
resolutions recognizing Armenian genocide in USA. "The perennial
Armenian genocide resolution conflict showcases how this works.

Presidential candidates invariably declare to Armenian-American
audiences that they will formally recognize as genocide the slaughter
that took place in the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923.

Samantha Power, a foreign policy adviser to candidate Barack
Obama in 2008, made this campaign-season pledge back then on
Obama's behalf. "He's a true friend of the Armenian people," Power
assured Armenian-Americans in an early 2008 video, calling Obama
an "acknowledger of the history" who would have a "willingness as
president to commemorate it," writes Doyle.

"Once in office, though, Obama followed the urgings of military
and diplomatic leaders who cautioned against alienating Turkey, a
crucial U.S. ally. Obama has since refused to use the word "genocide"
in his annual Armenian statements. Power now serves as the Obama
administration's United Nations ambassador," highlights the journalist.

Doyle brings other examples of such "consistent" approach of American
policy mentioning Iraq, Rwanda and Syria.