Tyler:

Over eight hundred thousand people died in less than one hundred days in the genocide of Rwanda. The international community knew about the atrocities that were happening daily but stood by and did nothing. Why was there no political will to stay in Rwanda and stop the genocide? Perhaps the best answer to this question is a quote from a congressman who was a member of the council on national security. He said “The United States doesn’t have friends, we have interests, and we are not interested in Rwanda” (Ghosts of Rwanda part 4). It is easy to place the blame for the western world’s indifference towards Rwanda on the people who appear most responsible; Kofi Annan, President Clinton, Madeline Albright, or the Belgian, French, or US governments. But if we blame them we are ignoring the fact that they are just players in a flawed game. We cannot expect these players to act differently because they are acting in accordance with the system our society has created. A system so flawed that the murder of 8 Belgian soldiers was enough to convince the whole western world to stand down and let Hutu militias kill 800,000 unarmed civilians. A system where the lives of a few countrymen are worth more than hundreds of thousands of human beings, where a live is only worth saving if it doesn’t cost you anything. In retrospect the solution seems obvious, commit 10,000 troops or so to protecting the Rwandan civilians and saving hundreds of thousands of lives, however the system in place didn’t allow for that possibility. The breakdown in Somalia had just concluded in 1993 when the United States pulled out of Somalia after 19 American soldiers died. The international community was not ready for another failed intervention and our elected leaders were pushed to comply by the system in place. This sentiment is expressed by President Clinton’s national security advisor in his statement “We don’t want to send American marines over there and have to bring them back in coffins, there’s just no incentive” (Ghosts of Rwanda part 4). From a political standpoint there was just no reason to commit a peacekeeping force to Rwanda. In order for it to be politically desirable under the system in place it must either be economically lucrative or an action the public would stand behind. Since losing American lives is not something that the public wanted to face and there was no monetary incentive in Rwanda the system influenced the officials to act immorally by not acting at all.