Reporting that the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved a resolution stating that the killing of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire from 1915-1923 was genocide, numerous print outlets including the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, USA Today, and The Washington Post noted that President Bush said the resolution “is not the right response to these historic mass killings.” The Associated Press article on the resolution quoted Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns saying that the resolution's approval “was not an action supported by President Bush.” The New York Times article also noted that Bush “carefully avoided the use of the word genocide.” However, neither the Times nor the other outlets noted that as a presidential candidate in 2000, Bush sent a letter to the Armenian National Committee of America in which, according to a press release on the organization's website, Bush wrote that "[t]he Armenians were subjected to a genocidal campaign that defies comprehension" and that if elected president, he “would ensure that our nation properly recognizes the tragic suffering of the Armenian people.” Despite his pledge as a candidate to “ensure” this recognition, Bush does not appear to have used the term “genocide” -- or a variant thereof -- to describe the killings as president, according to a search of the White House website.

In an October 10 statement, Bush urged members of the House “to oppose the Armenian genocide resolution”:

On another issue before Congress, I urge members to oppose the Armenian genocide resolution now being considered by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. We all deeply regret the tragic suffering of the Armenian people that began in 1915. This resolution is not the right response to these historic mass killings, and its passage would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in NATO and in the global war on terror.

A number of print outlets quoted Bush's October 10 statement or noted that he opposed the resolution. For example, from the October 11 Los Angeles Times article:

Hours before the vote, Bush warned that the resolution's passage would have serious consequences for U.S. foreign policy. “Its passage would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in NATO and in the global war on terror,” Bush said on the south lawn of the White House.

“We all deeply regret the tragic suffering of the Armenian people,” he said, but added: "This resolution is not the right response to these mass killings."

From the October 11 New York Times article:

“We all deeply regret the tragic suffering of the Armenian people that began in 1915,” Mr. Bush said in remarks that, reflecting official American policy, carefully avoided the use of the word genocide. “This resolution is not the right response to these historic mass killings, and its passage would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in NATO and in the global war on terror.”

[...]

“Neither of these resolutions is necessary,” a White House spokesman, Gordon D. Johndroe, said Wednesday evening. He said that Mr. Bush was “very disappointed” with the vote.

From the October 11 USA Today article:

“We all deeply regret the tragic suffering of the Armenian people that began in 1915,” Bush said, but the resolution is “not the right response.”

Bush made his comments after conferring with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Rice and Gates told reporters later that the resolution would damage relations with Turkey, which is a key transit station for American military equipment in Iraq.

From the October 11 Post article:

“This resolution is not the right response to these historic mass killings, and its passage would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in NATO and in the global war on terror,” Bush told reporters in the White House Rose Garden yesterday.

[...]

The vote drew swift condemnation from the Bush administration. “We are deeply disappointed,” said R. Nicholas Burns, undersecretary of state of political affairs. “Turkey is one of our most important allies globally.”

From an October 11 AP article:

Burns said the Turks “have not been threatening anything specific” in response to the vote, and that he hopes the “disappointment can be limited to statements.”

“The Turkish government leaders know there is a separation of powers in the United States, that today's action was an action by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, that this was not an action supported by President Bush and the executive branch of our government,” he said.

However, none of these articles noted that Bush had labeled the Turkish killing of Armenians a “genocidal campaign” and vowed that the United States would “properly recognize[]” the event, according to the Armenian National Committee of America's press release. The blog Think Progress documented Bush's letter on October 10. From the “partial text” of Bush's letter on the Armenian National Committee of America website:

The twentieth century was marred by wars of unimaginable brutality, mass murder and genocide. History records that the Armenians were the first people of the last century to have endured these cruelties. The Armenians were subjected to a genocidal campaign that defies comprehension and commands all decent people to remember and acknowledge the facts and lessons of an awful crime in a century of bloody crimes against humanity. If elected President, I would ensure that our nation properly recognizes the tragic suffering of the Armenian people.

White House press secretary Dana Perino was asked about Bush's letter during an October 10 press briefing. Perino stated that Bush “believes that the proper way to address this issue and express our feelings about it is through the presidential message and not through legislation”:

Q In February of 2000, candidate George Bush, according to the Armenia National Committee, said the following: “Armenians were,” -- candidate Bush said, “Armenians were subjected to a genocidal campaign that defies comprehension.” They say he has broken his promise to label the atrocities as genocide when he became President. What has changed since 2000?

MS. PERINO: The President believes that the proper way to address this issue and express our feelings about it is through the presidential message and not through legislation, and that was what he was describing today.

Q But he does consider it genocide, and called it that in 2000.

MS. PERINO: I was -- I didn't read all of the President's messages over the past seven years, but I would refer you to those.

Q Is it just the word “genocide” that he does not want applied to it now?

MS. PERINO: What he wants is -- no, what he wants is for the presidential message to be the thing that stands for the American response to this, not legislation passed by the House of Representatives.

On April 24 of every year of his presidency, Bush has issued a statement honoring the memory of the Armenian lives lost in the final years of the Ottoman Empire, yet in none of them has he used the term “genocide” to describe the killings.