http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/genocide_in_rwanda.htm
I think this article sheds light on the fact that many countries did nothing at all to stop the genocide; which is almost as bad as committing the murders. After the Belgian peacekeeping soldiers were killed, many countries like the United States did not believe that sending more troops were in their best interest. Why would you want to send more troops in to just be killed? This single question was the basis for many more excuses that people and organizations used to free themselves from the guilt of watching innocent people being murdered.
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ReplyDeleteSabrina:
ReplyDeleteI find it truly repulsive that we did nothing to stop the genocide. Standing silent, I agree whole heartedly, is equivalent if not worse to murdering Rwandans ourselves. We were condoning the rash and undeserved killings. The whole situation makes me wonder that if the US ever faced a situation with uniform death rates, essentially an American genocide, would other countries come to our aid? I am aware that the same delema would arise. Why send troops into a country with the only outcome being an increased amount of death? Yet, thinking further, as we studied term 1 and 2 in history class, civil disobedience can be a possible solution. Although it is a common misconception that civil disobedience will not have positive results, I beg to differ with this. I find that these preconceived notions can be changed, and evidence as to why they should be changed is everywhere in regard to Ghandi's efforts. I wonder: what would have happened if a lot of UN troops had simply practiced the method of civil disobedience refusing to condone and take part in the Hutu and Tutsi conflict?
I completely agree with what you said about how it was just as bad for the surrounding countries to not help the victims, and it was basically the same as killing them. I also think it was unjustifiable that our government (and the Belgians) withdrew our troops because we didn’t think it was in the “best interest” of our country. I don’t think that has anything to do with the fact that people are being killed in mass numbers across the world. We have a military for a reason and the people in it knew exactly what they were getting themselves into when they joined, so they should have done their job and stopped this genocide when they had the chance.
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