YEREVAN, AUGUST 28, ARMENPRESS: The United States helped protect the last Middle Eastern tyrant thought to use chemical weapons. That dictator was Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. Because he was fighting Iran in the 1980s, the Reagan administration fed him secret intelligence. And because his country bought U.S. crops, farm-state politicians fought off sanctions.

About this writes journalist of “Mcclathly” periodical Michael Doyle when discussing relations of morality and American foreign policy.

He writes that now, amid allegations of chemical weapons use by Syria, the Obama administration is preparing a case for military action. Moral assertions will be paramount, as in Secretary of State John Kerry’s declaration Monday that “our sense of basic humanity is offended.”

“History, though, offers a harsher perspective. From Iraq and Syria, to Rwanda and Armenia, morality as a motive in U.S. foreign policy is more contingent than absolute. “It’s quite selective. The government knew of the fact that Iraq was using chemical weapons, and did not deter them,” writes the journalist, reports "Armenpress".

In his opinion the most obvious example of this is the struggle over resolutions recognizing Armenian genocide in USA.  “The perennial Armenian genocide resolution conflict showcases how this works. Presidential candidates invariably declare to Armenian-American audiences that they will formally recognize as genocide the slaughter that took place in the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923. Samantha Power, a foreign policy adviser to candidate Barack Obama in 2008, made this campaign-season pledge back then on Obama’s behalf. “He’s a true friend of the Armenian people,” Power assured Armenian-Americans in an early 2008 video, calling Obama an “acknowledger of the history” who would have a “willingness as president to commemorate it,” writes Doyle.

“Once in office, though, Obama followed the urgings of military and diplomatic leaders who cautioned against alienating Turkey, a crucial U.S. ally. Obama has since refused to use the word “genocide” in his annual Armenian statements. Power now serves as the Obama administration’s United Nations ambassador,” highlights the journalist.

Doyle brings other examples of such “consistent” approach of American policy mentioning Iraq, Rwanda and Syria.