ridenrain ridenrain:
We didn't fail alone, but yes, we did fail.
In you're oppinion, if he had acted and tried to sieze those arms caches, would that have stopped, slowed or accelerated the bloodshed? Without immediate reinforcements, would our troops have survived?
In my opinion, Canada provided the lead command in Rwanda and knew exactly what it would take to prevent genocide. According to Canadian intelligence assessments at the time, a single Brigade from any nation could have done the job and averted the genocide from occurring. That many other nations and the UN almost seemed to encourage this genocidal event I won't dispute, but it was the sovereign and independent nation of Canada which choose to not prevent the tragedy.
In answer to your other question, Canada had little better then a Coy+ on the ground which was wholly inadequate to do little more then defend their position. Canada's lack of support was so extensive it extended to agreeing to bizarre UN rules of engagement and providing virtually no logistic support for those deployed.
Whether Canada should or shouldn't have intervened I suppose is debatable. However, there is no question that the Canadian government was well aware of the potential for organised and systematic genocide well before the fact and that it deliberately chose to allow it to happen. As such, the lessons of Auschwitz were lost or ignored by the government, the media and ultimately the people of Canada during that period.
CKA Super Elite 
CKA Uber 
