By Harut Sassounian Publisher, The California Courier Over the years, various American officials have made so many self-serving and politically expedient statements that they have lost all respect and credibility both at home and abroad. In early September, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the United States viewed the killings in the Darfur region of Sudan as genocide, and called on the United Nations to take urgent action. The White House then released a statement by Pres. Bush making public his determination that the violence in Sudan amounted to genocide. Furthermore, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution declaring the massacres taking place in Sudan to be genocide. It is interesting to note that Pres. Bush, Secretary Powell, and the congressional leaders, who have fought tooth and nail to block the most innocuous resolutions on the Armenian Genocide, are so eager to qualify the killings in Sudan as genocide. The U.S. tried to push through the UN Security Council a strongly-worded resolution on the killings in Sudan. The measure was finally adopted, but not before it was watered down after objections from China, Russia, Pakistan and Algeria. The UN did not accuse Sudan of genocide. Instead, the Security Council decided to appoint an international commission to determine "whether or not acts of genocide have occurred." Here is the ironic situation the United States government finds itself in. In the case of Sudan, because it suits its political interests, Washington first qualifies the killings as genocide, and then votes for a resolution that asks the UN to study if genocide had occurred. On the other hand, due to opportunistic political agendas, U.S. officials are reluctant to recognize the Armenian Genocide even though 20 years ago a UN human rights panel, following a lengthy investigation, classified the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman government as genocide. Such immoral political behavior, however, does not go unnoticed by the international public opinion. Officials in various countries have pointed out the political considerations involved in the Bush administration's pre-occupation with the killings in Sudan on the eve of the U.S. presidential elections. It is no secret that the United States has opposed the authorities in Khartoum for many years. Pres. Clinton even ordered a missile attack on a Sudanese factory, claiming that it produced a dangerous chemical that turned out to be a harmless pharmaceutical substance. The sad part in all of this is that a truly great human tragedy is unfolding in Sudan right now that may indeed qualify as genocide. However, successive US governments, by their cynical behavior, ignoring the worst crimes of their friends and condemning the slightest violations of their foes, have undermined their own credibility in the eyes of the world, to the point that even when their assessments are accurate, no one believes them anymore. To regain its credibility as well as the respect of the world, the US government has to make a principled stand towards its friends and foes alike.

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