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mefi
There was no honour to be had in Rwanda.
11 years ago this week, the
Rwandan Genocide began and didn't end until almost a million Rwandans, mostly Tutsis, were dead - killed by their own countrymen in the span of 100 days.
Romeo Dallaire was the Force Commander of the UN troops in Rwanda at the time. Increasing unrest and killings along with intelligence obtained from an informant led him to conclude that the genocide was coming and that it could be stopped if action was taken quickly and decisively enough. He requested 2000 additional troops and the authority to plan and execute an operation to halt the genocide before it began.
The UN Security Council denied both requests, and reduced the UN force in Rwanda to 260 troops. One million Rwandans died. Romeo Dallaire and 260 Canadian, Ghanian, and Dutch soldiers are
directly credited with saving over 20,000 Tutsis that would have died.
Dallaire's career as a soldier is over. But he knows that if the effort is not made, another genocide like Rwanda will happen.
It may already be too late to stop the next one.
posted to MetaFilter by Dipsomaniac
at 12:10 AM on April 12, 2005
(41 comments)
Failure is not an option, it's mandatory.
"For more than three decades, the Republican Party has relied on the "culture war" to rescue their chances every four years, from Richard Nixon's campaign against the liberal news media to George H. W. Bush's campaign against the liberal flag-burners. In this culture war, the real divide is between "regular people" and an endlessly scheming "liberal elite." This strategy allows them to depict themselves as friends of the common people even as they gut workplace safety rules and lay plans to turn Social Security over to Wall Street. Most important, it has allowed Republicans to speak the language of populism."
An opinion about how the surety of losing wins votes for the Republican party.
posted to MetaFilter by Dipsomaniac
at 11:25 AM on July 16, 2004
(61 comments)
It's all yours, boys.
The US just announced the handover of sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government, two days early. Paul Bremer has said that he'll be leaving the country soon. Is this truly the beginning of an independent Iraq, or is it simply making way for
John Negroponte to be in charge?
posted to MetaFilter by Dipsomaniac
at 12:39 AM on June 28, 2004
(130 comments)
Convicted killer wins stay.
The 9th Circuit Court feels that justice would be better served by being more sure that Cooper is actually guilty of the 4 murders he was sentenced to die for (followed from
here). Considering the amount of controversy over evidence handling in this case, I think that they're right.
posted to MetaFilter by Dipsomaniac
at 8:53 PM on February 9, 2004
(9 comments)
Friendly fire pilots cleared.
Even though a joint US-Canada investigation found that there was sufficient evidence to proceed with court-martial proceedings against the two pilots, no military charges will be filed.
Now, while charging these two pilots will not bring the dead Canadians back, I don't think that it's too much to ask that these two hotshots be required to face the consequences of their
lethal actions.
Frankly, a court-martial is not too much to expect, in the face of the fact that these officers disobeyed a direct order.
posted to MetaFilter by Dipsomaniac
at 7:22 PM on June 18, 2003
(17 comments)
