And in Rwanda, the UN left promptly after the Tutsis had all crowded into schools, hospitals, etc. where the UN was based, the Hutus knew exactly where to get at the Tutsis once the UN departed. There were Tutsis BEGGING the departing UN soldiers to shoot them because they preferred that over being slaughtered by machetes - the main killing tool of the Hutus. The UN wouldn't even take a pleaing woman with them on their truck - but all the pet dogs of foreigners departing were shipped out. The UN makes these massacres EASIER. The massacres and the wars happen AFTER the UN has been established in these places.
You've probably seen the interviews with the Canadian commander in Rwanda. He says his pleas for permission to act were turned down by Kofi Annan. He said he had a breakdown after his service there, where he witnessed things no one should have to see.
Somewhere I read an interview with a Norwegian soldier who also had a nervous breakdown after service there, where he said women were killed right in front of his eyes, close enough to splatter blood on his uniform. But he was not permitted to intervene.
And my thought, in the case of both of them, was that you were there, you were armed, you could have saved some of them. You could have saved someone. You could have stopped someone.
Were you really so concerned about your career in a make-believe army?
It is one thing to do nothing when you are powerless to act. It is another to stand by with a loaded gun and watch. These men deserve their mental breakdowns. They deserve to be haunted by their consciences until the day they die.
So, again, it is heartening to read of these Canadians who did find their nerve, even against orders, and did what decent men ought to do.
doesnt the 5080 sound eerily similar to my numbers I've provided? But these numbers are off by thousand plus.