HyeOctane

Taking Grassroots Activism to the Next Level

From ‘Never Again’ to ‘Maybe Sometimes’

November 14th, 2007 by

On Tuesday, November 13, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Secretary of Defense William Cohen held a news conference for their newly established Genocide Prevention Task Force. The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) issued a press release and transcript of the conference and AP was one of several outlets that covered the story.

Off the bat, it seems quite puzzling how two officials who failed to respond to the genocide in Rwanda and who continue to lend their name to the denial of the Armenian Genocide can claim any credibility in stopping future atrocities. Maybe the press conference would help allay such concerns? Unfortunately, no, it only reinforced them.

For example, in response to a question asking whether “for political expediency purposes” we should or should not “be taking action on future genocides because of what it could mean to U.S. interest,” Cohen confirmed, “there are no absolutes in this.” So, in the face of the destruction of an entire ethnic group, we may have to let human extermination slide. There are other factors to consider, after all. Perhaps we can even revise the vow “never again” to “not always” or “maybe sometimes”?

Cohen later went on to state, “I don’t know that the UN has declared that genocide occurred in the Armenian situation,” as if the fact that they haven’t declared what’s going on in Darfur genocide prevents anyone from realizing the veracity of the crimes taking place there. Besides, it is well known that the term genocide itself was coined by Raphael Lemkin precisely with the Armenian Genocide in mind. Perhaps the head of a new task force commissioned to prevent genocide should brush up on his history.

Albright got in the act too, stating that the new group will focus its efforts on what is “practical” (e.g. politically expedient) and that it is her hope they will not get themselves “into emotional appeals because that does not work.” I guess this shouldn’t come as a surprise from a woman who famously responded to a 60 Minutes question regarding the death of half a million Iraqi children under US-sponsored sanctions by saying, “We think the price is worth it.” One wonders whether someone who can so coldly make such a statement (and act on it through her policies) has any emotion at all.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • MySpace
  • del.icio.us
  • Google

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 14th, 2007 at 8:32 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Leave a Reply