Senator Biden Delays Vote on Hoagland Nomination
ArmRadio.am
02.08.2006 10:41
Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE), the Ranking Democrat on the Foreign
Relations Committee, was joined today by Senator John Kerry (D-MA) in
forcing a month-long delay in the Committee’s vote on the controversial
nomination of Richard Hoagland to replace the current U.S. Ambassador
to Armenia John Evans, reported the Armenian National Committee
of America.
The controversy within the Foreign Relations Committee over the
Hoagland nomination began with Senator Biden’s June 23rd letter asking
Secretary of State Rice Condoleezza Rice to respond to a series of
questions, including specific inquiries about reports that the current
Ambassador had been recalled due to his having "accurately described
the Armenian Genocide as genocide." The debate over the merits of the
nomination heated up during the June 28th confirmation hearing due
to the nominee’s evasive and unresponsive answers to straightforward
questions posed by panel members about U.S. policy on the Armenian
Genocide. Following the hearing, Ambassador-designate Hoagland, in a
sharp departure from established Administration practice, responded
to a written Senate inquiry by questioning the genocidal intent of
the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide, a denial tactic frequently
used by the Turkish government.
As a result of the intervention of Senators Biden and Kerry,
Ambassador-designate Hoagland’s nomination will not be considered by
the Committee until the Committee’s next business meeting in September.
"The ANCA welcomes the leadership of Senators Biden and Kerry in
ensuring that the Foreign Relations Committee has the time to more
carefully consider the implications – for both our foreign policy and
our values as a nation – of confirming a U.S. Ambassador to Armenia
who is on record denying the Armenian Genocide," said ANCA Chairman Ken
Hachikian. "We appreciate, as well, the principled efforts of Senators
Allen, Boxer, Chafee, Coleman, Dodd, Feingold, Kennedy, Reed, Sarbanes,
and others to seek an honest explanation of the firing of Ambassador
Evans, to explore the role of the Turkish government in his recall,
and to insist that the Administration clearly articulate its stand
on the recognition of the Armenian Genocide."
The panel’s decision comes in the wake of a nationwide campaign by
the ANCA – in Washington, DC and in grassroots communities across
the country – to demand answers concerning the recall of Amb. Evans
and to educate Senators about the adverse impact of sending an envoy
to Armenia that has called into question the genocidal character of
Ottoman Turkey’s systematic destruction of its Armenian population. The
ANCA has mobilized thousands of activists to share their views with
their Senators and Representatives about the need for an honest
explanation of Ambassador Evans’ recall and, more broadly, the exact
outlines of the State Department’s policy on the Armenian Genocide.
As early as this February, Members of Congress, at the urging of
the ANCA, began pressing the State Department for a full, open, and
official explanation of the firing of the current U.S. Ambassador
to Armenia, over his truthful comment last year on the Armenian
Genocide. Despite a series of Congressional letters and questions posed
during Congressional testimony by Secretary of State Rice and other
senior officials, the Administration failed to provide a meaningful
explanation of its decision to recall Ambassador Evans.
In the shadow of this controversy, Ambassador-designate Hoagland
came before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 28th
for a confirmation hearing, alongside the President’s nominees to
represent the U.S. in Ireland and Switzerland. During this hearing,
Senators George Allen (R-VA) and Norm Coleman (R-MN) pressed
Ambassador-designate Hoagland for answers about U.S. policy on the
Armenian Genocide. Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) expressed serious
reservations concerning the circumstances of the nomination and the
Administration’s policy on the Armenian Genocide.
Ambassador-designate Hoagland’s responses during the hearing, and
later to written questions submitted by panel members, were largely
evasive, characterized by repeated – often strained – efforts to
avoid using the term genocide, even while refusing to acknowledge
that he had been instructed not to use this term. The following day,
on June 29th, the panel, and then the full Senate, voted to confirm
nominees for the ambassadors to Ireland and Switzerland, but chose
to not take any action on Hoagland’s nomination.
In the days that followed his confirmation hearing, Ambassador-
designate Hoagland responded to several dozen written questions
concerning U.S. policy on the Armenian Genocide, the recall of
Ambassador Evans, and the instructions he had received regarding
how to address this matter if confirmed by the Senate. Among his
written responses to a series of questions posed by Senator Barbara
Boxer (D-CA), was a deeply troubling, morally objectionable and
historically inaccurate indication that the Armenian Genocide did
not meet the U.S. definition of genocide because of the absence
of a "specific intent" on the part of the perpetrator. This denial
of the Armenian Genocide – which went far beyond the bounds of the
Administration’s traditional policy – prompted the ANCA to announce
its formal opposition to Richard Hoagland’s nomination on July 18th.
Soon after, the ANCA determined that, according to Department of
Justice records, the State Department had misled the U.S. Senate
about its communications with the Turkish government concerning the
February 2005 public affirmation of the Armenian Genocide by Ambassador
Evans. In a letter, dated June 28th, written on behalf of Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice to Senator Biden, the State Department denied
that the Turkish government had even approached the Administration on
this issue. However, official Foreign Agent Registration Act filings
by the Turkish government’s registered foreign agent, the Livingston
Group, document that, in the days following Ambassador Evans’ February
19, 2005 remarks, one of Turkey’s agents communicated on at least
four different occasions with State Department officials concerning
the envoy’s statement and his subsequent retraction.
To date, half of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including
Senators George Allen (R-VA), Joseph Biden (D-DE), Barbara Boxer
(D-CA), Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), Norm Coleman (R-MN), Christopher Dodd
(D-CT), Russell Feingold (D-WI), John Kerry (D-MA) and Paul Sarbanes
(D-MD), have contacted Secretary Rice or questioned Ambassador
Designate Hoagland directly regarding the Armenian Genocide. Senators
Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Jack Reed (D-RI), along with over sixty
members of the House have also expressed serious concerns to the
State Department on this matter.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress