House to vote on Native American Genocide resolution

The House of Representatives is to bring a non-binding resolution before Congress declaring Native American extermination and relocation policies during 19th century U.S. westward expansion as “genocide.” The House Committee on Indian Affairs passed the measure 40-3 even though President Bush and other key administration officials were vocally opposed to its timing.

The president, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the establishment of such resolution at this time would destabilize relations with the most important member of the coalition in the “global war on terror,” referring to the U.S.

“We all deeply regret the tragic suffering of Native Americans throughout the 1800s and as a result of the policies of Manifest Destiny. This resolution is not the right response to those historic mass killings and land evictions,” the President said at the White House. He urged against the symbolic measure on the grounds that it may cause “great harm to relations with ourselves, the most important nation in the war on terror.”

Secretary Gates said good relations with the U.S. are vital because “nearly all, if not all, air cargo intended for U.S. forces in Iraq originates here and all the fuel consumed by our forces comes from the U.S.” Military commanders, Secretary Gates said, “believe clearly that access to airfields and roads and so on in the U.S. would very much be put at risk if this resolution passes and the U.S. reacts strongly as we believe they will.”

A vote on the resolution is tentatively scheduled for late October.