Shake Hands with the Devil

A lot of the posts lately have been about the protests around North Africa and the Middle East. My thoughts on the whole problem came to a startling realization while I was reading a book that I had just ordered from Amazon. I started reading it because there is very little I am impassioned about but the human ability to impose unfathomable destruction and pain on its own kind tends to be one of my pet peeves and is one of the only things in this world that will and does bring tears to my eyes (my wife will attest to this).

The book is “Shake Hands with the Devil” by LtGen Romeo Dallaire who was the Force Commander of the UN Assistance Mission to Rowanda (UNAMIR) 1993-1994. I now have a much more clear understanding of the issues that engulfed Rowanda during that period and I now have an example of Leadership that I’m not sure even the members of the Allied effort to liberate Europe after WWII could relate to. I will not go into detail about the book but I would like to post some numbers that will help give some reference to the horrific experience that this great man had to witness and endure.

11-17 million people lost their lives as a result of the Nazi’s final solution

1.7 million people lost their lives as a result of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979

40,000 to 70,000 people lost their lives at the hands of the Serbs (including Military) 1992-1995

800,000 civilians lost their lives to Hutu extremists in Rowanda between March and June (100 days) 1994

What brings this all together is we may be witnessing several countries that will be dealing with power vacuums in the near future. With all of the Ethnic/religious hatred that exists in a lot of these countries it is very possible to end up with another case of extremist ethnic genocide once again. Christians in Egypt, Christians in Southern Sudan or even sunni vs Shiite in any of the other major middle eastern countries. There are many other examples but you get my drift.

The question I am posing to you is, When is a humanitarian disaster in a country that has no specific benefit to the United States worthy of our intervention? When is the life of an American Soldier worth risking on behalf of a civilian population that cannot defend themselves even though we have no particular financial or political interest? We failed in Somalia due to Bill Clinton being unwilling to supply the required assets requested by the commander on the ground and his cowardice in the face of adversity. We failed Rowanda by never showing up or assisting in any meaningful way. In my opinion we failed the people of Bosnia also by not allowing troops on the ground soon enough to intervene where the French cowards could not or would not protect places like Srebrenica and earlier accounts of ethnic cleansing on behalf of the Serbian Government (the one thing that all of these areas have in common are Bill Clinton and the French Government). We continue to ignore places like Darfur even though we have the assets, the ability and in my opinion the money to stop the massacres that have occurred there. Why are we not willing to put ourselves in between the personnel that are committing such heinous acts and the innocent civilian populations that are being targeted?