More dhimmitude from Washington. Some are saying, in the wake of Musharraf’s speech to the American Jewish Congress last Saturday, that it is unwise to challenge those who invoke Islam’s fabled magnificent history of tolerance and peaceful coexistence (which Musharraf invoked, and called for). It is best to pretend that such things did happen, they say, in order to induce Muslims today to emulate the behavior of their forefathers. The obvious flaw in this kind of thinking, however, is that to build on fiction is to build on sand. What will happen when Muslims in the newly-built kingdom of tolerance realize that their ancestors were not proto-multiculturalists, but enforcers of the dhimma? Would it not be wiser for Muslims of good will to confront and reject the dhimma, and devote themselves to working actively against its reappearance? Also, much more often in history — look at the Communist regimes — we see that pretending that things are as they are not is not so much a vehicle to make them so but a curtain to fool outsiders, behind which things go on as before.
Would the same thing happen in the Islamic world? The Armenian genocide is a test case. The Turks have been pretending for over 80 years now that they did not massacre huge numbers of Armenians. Has this pretense made them kinder and gentler to non-Muslims? On the contrary: they are just as brutal and unjust to non-Muslims as they were before. But the world pays scant attention — just as it did before.
From the World Tribune, with thanks to Fjordman:
The House of Representatives was expected to examine a resolution that blames Turkey for the genocide of Armenians in World War I. The House International Relations Committee has passed two resolutions that blame the Ottoman Empire for the killing of about 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey from 1915-1923. On Sept. 15, the committee voted for the resolutions by wide margins despite warnings from the Bush administration that this could harm U.S.-Turkish relations.
The resolutions demands that Turkey accept responsibility for the killing of Armenians and that the U.S. president consider the genocide in American foreign policy. The House panel also called for U.S. commemoration of the Armenian genocide.
House International Relations Committee chairman Rep. Henry Hyde voted for the resolutions. Hyde said the resolutions would not harm relations with Turkey.
Turkey has not formally protested the House resolutions. But Turkish ambassador to the United States Faruk Logoglu stressed that Ankara has sought to maintain a dialogue with Armenia in an effort to improve relations.
“Only via open and honest dialogue can the Turkish and Armenian peoples resolve issues that have been following them and damaging their relations,” Logoglu said in a statement concerning the resolutions.
OK, Logoglu. Let’s see some open and honest dialogue.