West 'guilty' over Rwanda genocide

CNN ^ | 4/6/4

[presidio9]

KIGALI, Rwanda -- Western powers bear "criminal responsibility" for Rwanda's 1994 genocide because they did not attempt to stop it, the commander of the U.N. peacekeeping force in the country at the time has said.

"The international community didn't give one damn for Rwandans because Rwanda was a country of no strategic importance," General Romeo Dallaire told a conference in Kigali marking the 10th anniversary of the slaughter.

[anniegetyourgun]

Ah, but did you catch Brit Hume's segement on "grapevine" tonight? He mentioned Clinton's mea culpa on Rwanda today. Brit went on to mention that Clinton was advised to decrease support and manpower in Rwanda. Who advised him to do that? None other than Richard Clarke....

[F16Fighter]

"I would have thought the Rwandans might share some of the blame ..."

But NOOOO....

Dontcha know?

All libs, and UN One-World Weenies must refer to the authority of "moral relativism" or the psychatric "profession" -- both feed the PC monster.

[Heyworth]

He and the UN were there and could have stopped it, but he was following orders to do nothing. The “following orders” defense was dismissed during the WWII Nuremberg Trials.

That's not really fair to Dallaire, who begged time and again for any kind of support. Instead, he was stripped of all but a tiny token force, too small to do anything except get themselves massacred if they stood in the way of the Hutus. What they were able to do to some extent was serve as witnesses, and their mere presence in some cases was enough to stop the Hutu militias, who were aware enough of world opinion to not want to do anything in front of them. Dallaire worked up a plan to set up safe havens in soccer stadiums, and eventually the UN agreed to authorize troops to the area, but not a single country volunteered to send its men.

If you really want to blame anyone, blame the Belgians. Dallaire had warned the UN that there was a plan to kill some Belgian soldiers, banking on them then cutting and running like the Americans did in Somalia. The Belgians did exactly as predicted. Of course, I guess I can't expect them to have any more spine than Clinton showed a few months earlier.

[RJL]

Ah, but did you catch Brit Hume's segment on "grapevine" tonight? He mentioned Clinton's mea culpa on Rwanda today. Brit went on to mention that Clinton was advised to decrease support and manpower in Rwanda. Who advised him to do that? None other than Richard Clarke....

Amazing, and very timely.

[vpintheak]

These people want nothing to do with US when it suits them, the minute something bad happens, it is our fault. I could laught if it wasn't such a sad situation. Isolationalism might be a policy we need to return to.

[Teacher317]

And if we had intervened, the 50,000 killed would've been on our hands. The resulting unrest would be our fault, as well. And when we left, under the pressure of those accusations, we'd be blamed for the next 50,000 murdered in the resultant civil war.

We just figured we'd prefer to get blamed only once for 100,000 Tutsi murders instead of 3 times. Liability logic, donchyaknow.

[RJL]

Perhaps, but I am being every bit as fair as he is when I read this:

The Western powers bear "criminal responsibility" for Rwanda's 1994 genocide because they did not attempt to stop it, the commander of the U.N. peacekeeping force in the country at the time has said.

[Sender]

Wow, Clarke is gonna regret the day his insignificant name burst into the sunshine for his 15 minutes of fame...and 45 minutes of shame, it would appear.

[swampfox98]

He suffered post traumatic stress syndrome, and remains haunted by the fact that his alarm was ignored, and angry at what he calls the world's callous characterization of the Rwanda genocide

Say no more! He wants reparation from the American tax payers, I suppose?

[Howlin]

http://gsearch.pbs.org/search?output=xml_no_dtd&restrict=frontline&site=pbs&client=pbs&proxystylesheet=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pbs.org%2Fwgbh%2Fpages%2Ffrontline%2Fincludes%2Fgoogle.xsl&q=rwanda

[don-o]

That's not really fair to Dallaire, who begged time and again for any kind of support.

Spot on!

There is a Thread here about a good article from the NY Times Magazine.

Dallaire paid a big time price for a whole lotta fuc*up

[BlazingArizona]

This defies belief. When America intervenes we are always wrong, even if we are acting in response to an attack on New York City. Now if we don't intervene, that's wrong too?

[Heyworth]

Perhaps, but I am being every bit as fair as he is...

I agree, up to a point. We could have stopped it, if the will had been there. Ultimately, the real issue behind all this is the "World's Policeman" argument. If we actually believe that it's our responsibility (and the rest of the civilized world's) to stop genocide, like we've said in treaties we've signed, then we are as culpable as the cop who stands aside and watches a murder in the street. If not, however, well, we should stop pretending that we care and admit that we'll get involved when it's in our interest.

Watching the "Frontline" last week on Rwanda, the thing that appalled me the most (after the piles of butchered bodies, that is) was the State Dept. spokesman studiously avoiding using the word "genocide" and fumbling with the answer when someone asked if she was under orders not to use that word. The other thing was everyone in a position of authority saying "we didn't know." Everyone knew. It was on the news every night for three months. They didn't WANT to know, because then they would have been obligated to do something.

[don-o]

was the State Dept. spokesman studiously avoiding using the word "genocide" and fumbling with the answer when someone asked if she was under orders not to use that word.

Using the word "genocide" would have triggrered necessary action from the U.N.

Hence, the silence.

Shameful

[jocon307]

"I'll just assume everything is my fault until further notice."

Listen my fellow freeper, I've got that free floating guilt market cornered, and even I don't feel guilty about Rawanda.

This guy obviously feels personally guilty, so he's decided to blame millions of innocent people for his failure. Oh, yes, and in the meantime, let the truly guilty off the hook.

How can it be that one decade, the 1960s, has totally ruined all the world.

Let's you and me feel guilty about that too, while we're at it.

Feh!

[AdamSelene235]

How can it be that one decade, the 1960s, has totally ruined all the world.

Things started looking grim in the 1890's...the 1960's was just the mob version...no original cultural content....

[dr_who_2]

Stop them before they kill again.

[jocon307]

"we didn't know."

Cripes, that IS bullshit. That was barely an acceptable excuse during a world wide war in the 1930s/1940s; it is ludicrous on its face in the 1990s. Shoeshine boys knew what was going on in Rawanda, to my mind it was feckless racism pure and simple that caused no intervention here. The secret kind of acceptable racism, left-wing variety.

[jocon307]

"Things started looking grim in the 1890's."

Yeah, you're right, it's amazing how far back this nihilism goes. Maybe we could go back even further, to paraphrase Monty Python, No one's gotten over the French Revolution!

[moni kerr]

Watching the "Frontline" last week on Rwanda, the thing that appalled me the most (after the piles of butchered bodies, that is) was the State Dept. spokesman studiously avoiding using the word "genocide" and fumbling with the answer when someone asked if she was under orders not to use that word. The other thing was everyone in a position of authority saying "we didn't know." Everyone knew. It was on the news every night for three months. They didn't WANT to know, because then they would have been obligated to do something.

Yet the 'G' word was used regarding Kosovo, despite the lack of evidence there.