Bush: don't mention the genocide

Between 1915 and 1917, the Ottoman Empire murdered up to 1.5 million Armenians in the twentieth century's first act of genocide. It's successor, the Turkish government, has been in denial ever since, but there is a growing movement around the world to recognise the crime, with various governments formally recognising it as genocide. The US House of Representatives is currently in the process of passing a resolution recognising the Armenian genocide and calling upon the government to take account of it in its foreign policy. President Bush's response? Back the deniers, of course. The resolution would offend the Turks, who are vital allies in his war on terror, and to keep them happy he's quite willing to look the other way on genocide, just as he's been happy to look the other way on torture, murder and disappearance. Genocide, it seems, is perfectly acceptable, provided you cuddle up to Bush afterwards.