ONLY STRONG SUPPORTER OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MAY BECOME CIA DIRECTOR
ArmInfo
2009-01-15 14:27:00
ArmInfo. Last week, President-Elect Barack Obama officially nominated
former Clinton White House Chief of Staff and Congressman Leon
Panetta to serve as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency,
reported the Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly).
"During his years in Congress, Leon Panetta repeatedly expressed his
support for affirmation of the Armenian Genocide," said Assembly
Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. "Coupled with President-Elect
Obama’s decision to nominate Senator Hillary Clinton, as Secretary
of State, who is on record in support of U.S. affirmation of the
Armenian Genocide, this nomination represents another step in
restoring U.S. credibility in fighting genocide." As AAA reports,
throughout his Congressional career, Panetta was a strong supporter
of Armenian issues and repeatedly co-sponsored resolutions honoring an
"Armenian Day of Remembrance."
On April 29, 1992, he stated, "That infamous nationwide massacre
of Armenians was an unspeakable horror in human history too often
forgotten and ignored, and it is with a heavy sense of the lessons
of history that I join in commemorating it today… We are compelled
to recall the horrific attempt to annihilate a people by our duties
both to honor the dead and to prevent the replication of the genocide.
Indeed, by acting against hate and fear, we honor those who died so
unjustly… April 24, 1915, signified the beginning of a systematic
attempt by the Ottoman regime to deport and exterminate Armenians
from the Anatolian Peninsula … It is for those victims, and it is
for all oppressed peoples today, those who have died and those who
survived, that we take time to reflect on the Armenian genocide and
its implications for all of us today."