Re: Re: Re: (fixed) US newsman apologises for neglecting DRC

[Rob Schaap <bantam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

We should not forget Kissinger's reminder to the Bildeburgers that the US was
an imperial core which didn't really know how to do imperialising.  I'm
reminded of the story about Tony Lake bringing news of the resumption of the
Rwandan genocide to the Clinton cabinet (we must not forget there was plenty
of warning - indeed, the Guardian Weekly had been predicting it for months to
my certain knowledge).  Apparently, nobody had a clue as to what he was
talking about, and Warren Christopher was asked to get an atlas.  They duly
pulled 2100 of Romeo DeLare's 2500-strong force on the ground out.  The 400
who remained managed to save about 25000 lives, but 800 000 were killed in a
hundred days as a consequence of a thoroughly ignorant trouble-avoiding
administration seeking to avoid the sort of trouble they'd found themselves in
during the Somalia business.

DeLare apparently went on to become suicidal, plagued by having to choose
which individuals to save and which tens of thousands to consign to their
grisly fates (many of which were played out before his men's eyes).

Says Samatha somebody (*A Problem From Hell*, 2001: Basic Books - who also
currently has an article in Atlantic Monthly) America does occasionally
examione its navel when something it has done leads to carnage, but is not
inclined to do so when it comes to sins of ommission.

Cheers,
Rob.