WHITE HOUSE REPEATEDLY OFFERED HOAGLAND’S CANDIDACY AS US AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.01.2007 13:28 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ US President George Bush again offered to nominate
Richard Hoagland as US ambassador to Armenia. The Associated Press
reports that on Monday the White House repeatedly declared about
Hoagland’s nomination on the post of US ambassador to Armenia,
despite the Democratic Party’s demand to withdraw his candidacy, since
Hoagland has refused to call ‘genocide’ the massacres of Armenians
during World War 1, RFE RL reports. It is worth mentioning, that
97% of Armenian Americans support opposition to the confirmation of
Richard Hoagland as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, according to a new
internet poll conducted by the Armenian National Committee of America
-Western Region (ANCA-WR) over the past two weeks in nineteen Western
U.S. states. 94% of the respondents said that they "strongly agreed"
with this opposition. An additional 3% noted that they "somewhat
agreed" with this opposition. One percent reported that they "somewhat
disagreed" with opposing Hoagland, and 2% indicated that they "strongly
disagreed" with the opposition to his confirmation. This viewpoint is
aligned with the policy position of the Armenian National Committee
of America (ANCA). It is worth reminding that on September 7, 2006
thanks to Senator Robert Menendez’s efforts Hoagland’s candidacy was
blocked in the Senate. On December 1st of last year the New Jersey
legislator joined with Majority Leader Harry Reid in calling on the
Administration to offer a new candidate for this post. The negative
attitude towards Richard Hoagland’s nomination is connected with his
outright denial of the Armenian Genocide in response to questions
posed during and after his June 2006 confirmation hearing before the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee.