A message to Barack Obama

I want everyone who reads me to know that I have sent the following message to President Elect Barack Obama:

I support you and am happy I voted for you to be our next President. Thank you for working so hard to open the disenfranchised minds of many Americans.

I understand you plan on supporting the motion to acknowledge an Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman Empire. This, I think is the only area where we differ significantly, my question to you is why is the United States spending so much time and energy to do this? We have much bigger problems to worry about than to recognize something that simply did not happen the way it is being characterized for the world today.

I believe if you look at what historians who have researched the issue from an objective perspective have to say on the matter, you may change your mind as I have changed mine. Caroline Finkel's book "Osman's Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire", and Andrew Mango's book "Ataturk" both address the time frame in question, and both do so quite objectively. Both characterize the period and the events as sad, where many people both Ottoman and Armenian died. They both acknowledge that atrocities happened on both sides, and that the Russians had more to do with what happened than anyone especially the Armenians have ever admitted. Look at how the Ottoman Empire survived by accepting difference and learning from it. Yes non-Islamic citizens were taxed and treated differently, but at the time it was a standard governmental practice to have different classes of citizens.

Please, look closely and objectively at this issue before you support or denounce it. I know, no matter the decision you make on the matter you are going to feel the response. The Armenian Lobby is strong and rich in the US, but Turkey is a staunch ally of the US. Please consider this before we, the USA, opens this issue again.

Is this worth it? Is the issue even one to address? If we do address it, will we also backdate the definition of Genocide a further 50 years and condemn ourselves for the openly genocidal program of clearing the western United States for white Americans. Our own history filled with documented case after documented case of murder and reprisal for murder. Look at the 1864 massacre at Sand Creek Colorado for instance. This event is not a lone incident; it was preceded and followed by others bigger and smaller.

Can we as Americans call ourselves to task as easily as we call others? These are truly sad events; there is no doubt about it. What will be sadder is the alienation of a country as rich and loyal as Turkey, who has been a beacon of democracy and secularism in the world of Islam.

Thank you for your integrity and vision to join rather than separate.

Gary Lee Johnson, Jr., MSgt USAF (Ret),
Citizen of the United States of American
Legal Resident of Turkey

I would hope everyone would send a similar message to their representatives also.

LeePsycho