Allen West: Obama decision ‘despicable’

Former Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) on Thursday rebuked President Obama for refusing to call a 1915 Turkish massacre of 1.5 million Armenians “genocide,” calling the decision “despicable.”

“A most horrific moment in our world history will soon have its 100th anniversary — but how many remember, or recognize it?” West wrote on his blog.

{mosads}“Not our president,” he wrote. “I find it somewhat perplexing that a president so willing to condemn his own country finds it difficult to admit the wrongs of another.”

The White House on Tuesday declined to use the term “genocide” in describing the bloodshed despite a vigorous push from members of Congress and advocates for Armenia.

The administration announced that it would send Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to Armenia’s commemoration of the massacre Friday, but West said Obama should be making the trip himself.

“If I were occupying 1600 Pennsylvania, I’d be attending this event — it’s just that significant in the history of the world,” West said.

West additionally said Obama was turning a “blind eye” so he would not anger Turkey, a U.S. ally. That decision, he charged, was one of political calculation.

“No nation is without a stain, a black eye in its existence, and only an advanced and mature nation can admit its wrongs,” West said.

“And one thing history does — it keeps a record, and sometimes that record shows hypocrisy.”

Obama promised he would call the bloodbath “genocide” during his first presidential campaign in 2008. He has not publicly used the term to describe the massacre since entering the Oval Office.

Turkey has long denied its military actions against Armenians amounted to ethnic cleansing. Armenians, in contrast, argue that the Ottoman Turkish government tried systematically eradicating their people during World War I.