Obama Lemmings Play Politics With ‘Genocide’ Label
Kerry’s proclamation again ISIL was the right call, but so was our suspicion that his concession was political theater.
In March 2016, then-Secretary of State John Kerry — after demonstrating agonizingly long indifference — finally conceded that the Islamic State “is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control, including Yazidis, Christians and Shia Muslims.” He correctly deduced that the terrorist group engaged in “crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.”
As we noted at the time, Kerry’s remarks were somewhat unexpected, as they came just hours before the congressional deadline for the classification. Moreover, his 11th-hour admission contradicted the reluctance shown by other Barack Obama officials like Josh Earnest, who said, “The use of that word involves a very specific legal determination that has at this point not been reached.”
And while Kerry’s proclamation was ultimately the right call, our suspicions were also true. Now we know without a doubt that Kerry’s concession was nothing more than egregious political theater. The proof? According to a report in The Washington Free Beacon, “The State Department’s top lawyers are systematically removing the word ‘genocide’ to describe the Islamic State’s mass slaughter of Christians, Yazidis, and other ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria from speeches before they are delivered and other official documents, according to human rights activists and attorneys familiar with the policies.”
The maneuver, claims Nina Shea of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, is being orchestrated by Richard Visek, who — you guessed it — has been serving as chief adviser at the State Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser since being selected by Obama last October. Shea believes Visek’s revisions wreak of Obama-era politicking: “I don’t think for a minute it’s a bureaucratic decision — it’s ideological.”
These revelations have become customary: Obama plants are doing their best to defend and promote the ambitions and agenda of the former administration. And Democrats simply can’t admit that genocide happened on their watch. The Trump administration should do everything in its power to ensure Visek doesn’t succeed.
