Correction....Clinton administration and the UN ignored Rawanda
Posted on 12/20/2004 1:24:44 PM PST by rightalien
Many commentators and historians have heavily blamed the United Nations, and specifically Kofi Annan, for a level of apathy regarding the genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia which was tantamount to complicity in the murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent people. This has been true across much of the political spectrum, including the liberal Philip Gourevitch in the New Yorker magazine, who wrote the definitive book on the Rwanda genocide, We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families.
Annan ignored a letter notifying him that a genocide was occurring and that, as head of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, this was his responsibility to prevent. Nevertheless, the New York Times cultural section today does not mention Annan in an article reviewing an upcoming movie about Rwanda, Hotel Rwanda. Instead, the New York Times uses an interview with Anthony Lake, American National Security adviser during the Clinton years, to exlusively blame America for the massacre. Not only does the article not mention Annan's and the UN's role in the genocide, it also does not even castigate the perpetrators. In the New York Times, only America bears responsibility for the horror.
Contrast this treatment, with an op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal written by a UN Peacekeeping official, which focuses blame exactly where it belongs: The UN and Kofi Annan.
Ed Lasky
Correction....Clinton administration and the UN ignored Rawanda
What responsibility does the UK or France or Belguim or Germany take with Rwanda?
How come when a Republican is responsible for something, that Republican is to blame, but when a Democrat is responsible for something, then America is to blame?
Qwinn
He ignored a lot more than one letter from his field commander. There were multiple communications. He ordered them to stand down before the violence started to maintain the UN's 'image' of impartiality.
More of Clinton's illustrious "legacy".
That would mean Clinton, Albright, and Cohen, right?
-PJ
I know it's SUCH fun to bash European countries, but what about the responsibility of the other African nations? Don't THEY have the, er, lions's share, rather than NON-African nations? '
Aren't there African coalitions that are supposed to deal with African problems?
"Africa's responsibility"
Great observation.
I just can't wait until we have another uprising era of Muslim Crusades that breaks out in Africa and spread to Spain - NeoChristians vs. NeoMuslims.
I want a front seat to that one. My money is on the Christians.
Typical leftist position. America is allowed to intervene in the domestic affairs of other nations -- indeed it is obligated to do so -- but only when there is absolutely no American national interest at stake.
Phooey.
The fact of the matter is there was a European nation - Belgium - looking to intervene and lessen the genocide. But Madeline Albright, acting on Bill Clinton's orders, pressured the UN to prevent Belgium from acting.
Clinton was worried that labeling the murder of hundreds of thousands of people "genocide" might lead to pressure on his administration to do something, which in turn could dampen his party's prospects in the upcoming congressional elections.
So a few hundred thousand African people were sacrificed for the good of the Democratic Party. They would probably be very upset to find out that their noble sacrifice was in vain, since the Democrats got clobbered in that election anyway.
starfish,
Now now, quit thinking and join the hive mind and everything will be OK.
America is to blame for all the world's ills, wherever and whenever they occurred.
All the world's good, however you care to measure "good", is due to native, non-white, non-Christian, or non-English-speaking peoples.
Get it straight and you'll go far...
I assume that means Lake blames "America" and not "Bill Clinton" although only the latter was in a position to take action in the matter. Of course Clinton kind-of apologized during his 1998 apology tour of Africa.
When will we get rid of Kofi Baba and his den of 40 thieves? Shame on us that we still maintain membership in this corrupt organization.
I seriously doubt Spain will have Muslim problems. According to Spain, half of its immigrants are from South America. The other half, for the most part, are from eastern Europe and Russia. That info is from last month.
Natch.
Tsk. You are right.
I do keep forgetting.
Thanks for the reminder.
Harhar.
------------------------------------------
You want global carnage, can't wait to see it but you want others to do the fighting and the bleeding. Where does America keep finding all these heroes?
But they do have a large number of Moroccans in the southern part of Spain.
The Sudan?
The Sudan? Southeast Asia?
it's no different than Rwanda.
The U.S., specifically Bill Clinton and Madeline Albright and their sycophants at the DNC are definatly guilty for ignoring genocide as are Kofi and the U.N. The RNC failed to call them on it also and with a twisted sense of priorities seemed more concerned about sex scandals.
That period was the only time I've been ashamed of being an American. We got rid of Bill and Madeline, it's high time for Kofi to step down.
There you have it -- PC's finest hour: Belgium cannot intervene for fear of the appearance of "neo-colonialism". 800,000 dead is a small price to avoid such a PC faux pas.
try making some sense.
Yeah, but that didn't stop them (UN,Annan, Albright)from reducing the UN contigent that was already there by close to 90%, and then allowing the French, who were friends of the Hutu's to then intervene a while later. It's been said that when the French arrived, the Hutus were chanting "Welcome our French Hutu brothers!"
Scumbags!
Canadian General Romeo Dallaire was commander of the UN Rwanda mission. He called UN Headquarters many times in the days leading up to the start of the genocide, pleading to be allowed to do something. He wa met with silence. Two days before the carnage began, he called Kofi Annan's New York office warning that a bloodbath was about to occur, and again pleading for help. He was told it was too late at night to disturb anyone, and not to do anything, under any circumstances, without a direct order from the UN. As a result, Dallaire's small force of 300-400 had to stand by helplessly while hundreds of thousands of Rwandans were murdered, and was prevented from aiding Belgian paratroopers, who were subsequently slaughtered.
But instead, I wrote this for my site... (pops in new window, may contain bad words and excessive patriotism)
Excerpt:
"These - committee members' logic is like this: 'We started killing each other, and you did nothing to stop us. Therefore, you owe us MONEY!' SAY WHAT???"
I saw the interview with the field commander on The History channel. The guy saw the arms caches and had intel on when and where it would start, but Coffee refused to let him take action
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