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.
Are you sure the Norwegian was armed? Only "Batt" soldiers carry arms. I don't think there was a NORBATT in Rwanda. UNMOs (military observers) don't have any arms at all.
And how the heck were they supposed to save anyone in Rwanda? These hordes of thugs are slaughtering away, and yeah, you might shoot one of them before they kill you, but then they'll go right on slaughtering everyone. You can't save anyone's life in such a situation. If you try, you die in vain, with no hope of perhaps helping anyone if the situation should change and no hope of trying to make the situation change via communication with the powers that be in NY and Washington about what is happening.
The Canadians in Knin simply allowed the refugees to come into the compound. They didn't have to battle an army of crazed thugs, or even leave their compound to help those people. What the Canadians did in Knin did was admirable, but they faced nothing like what happened in Rwanda.
So, if you'd been in Rwanda, you would have died in vain and the people would have been killed anyway. You really think you would have done that? If so, then you're way past dumb.