Dear FRONTLINE,
Thank you Frontline for continually keeping us reminded of our history.
Politicians aren't just to blame for what happened in Rwanda, although, they could have done a better job of leading in this circumstance. Likewise, our triviality-obsessed media could have given this subject as much time as they do to car chases and shootouts. We are ultimately all to blame for what happened.
Never again? We've failed on living up to that mantra many times in the recent past. Thank you Frontline for reminding us again of our obligation to each other.
D. Glenn Daniels
Montgomery, AL
Dear FRONTLINE,
I was very sad watching this documentary and I was upset that nothing was done to help these people. I pray that we will not stand aside and allow this to happen again. I am sure if this was something pertaining to the diamond fields, the rest of the world would have shown more interest.
Dorett J-Irving
Dear FRONTLINE,
Congratulations to Greg Barker and his team for an insightful and well-presented documentary!
I hope that the world will respond more proactively should a genocide occur in the future, but I am not very optimistic. The degree of involvement will be the response to a complex equation of geopolitical/strategic interests of the United States and a few other nations. I also think the UN has been sidelined in the last two years, and might never be able to play as active a role as has been envisioned. And as long as foreign aid donors do not mandate the recipient governments to implement economic and social reforms and develop a sustainable infrastructure for healthcare and education, violence will continue of occur. The key is education which in turn breeds intelligence and hope.
Sudip Ghosh
State College, PA
Dear FRONTLINE,
It strikes me that we need to be always ready for genocide to occur somewhere in the world. Even though we (thankfully) are able to think of it as an anomaly in human behavior, we cannot afford the luxury of allowing our leadership to ignore the very real possibility of genocide's recurrence. We need to realize that when it does appear the diplomatic, journalistic, bureaucratic, governmental machinery moves far too slowly to be initiated at the first proof of genocide.
Susan Stevenson
Fruitland, Maryland
Dear FRONTLINE,
As long as the United Nations depends on nations such as the United States to decide if it's in our national interest to stop genocide anywhere in our world, then yes, it will happen again. I used to ask incredulously how the Jewish Holocaust could have happened. Now that's it has happened during my life time therefore, unfortunately I understand all too well how it can happen and I feel partly to blame. The UN needs to empowered to act immediately when acts of genocide take place.
Ken Hutton
Canandaigua, New York
Dear FRONTLINE,
Why is it that in order to save lives, America must first have an "interest" in that country? The possiblility of placing high value on the lives and interest of women, men and children in Riwanda was a sad and regretful failure on the part of the Clinton administration and other international countries so desperatly sought out for U.N. peacekeeping. Indeed, they should be ashamed for not taking immediate action.
Delia love
Williston, Florida
Dear FRONTLINE,
What does "never again" mean? I think it still means nothing to the US govt- it was stated perfectly in tonights documentary that we are concerned about our interests only....and the UN - how impotent!
Charlene Saulnier
Dear FRONTLINE,
People think that Bill Clinton's legacy is to be forever linked to Monica Lewinsky and Impeachment. But Bill Clinton's real legacy is that he stood by and watched while 800,000 innocent women and children were hacked to death in Rwanda knowing, all the while, that a contingent of 4,000 US troops could have easily stopped the killing. Clinton knew that the Interahamwe were nothing more than a bunch of poorly trained thugs who would have run like rabbits if confronted by US Marines. But Bill Clinton chose instead to cloak his cowardice in legalisms, as amplified by the sheer ludicrousness of his State Department spokeswoman who was exposed by this PBS program as a complete fraud.
Clinton, ever the sociopath, blamed the Congress as if the Congress formulated US foreign policy and he was some sort of hapless bystander. Then, the man who knows no shame for any act however low and despicable goes to Rwanda to meet with the survivors? How bizarre and sick was that?
Why did Clinton fail to show leadership? Why did he abandon Rwandans to a certain death? I think the ultimate responsibiliy is on the shoulders of the Congressional Black Caucus who have been shamefully mute about this whole episode. Where was the protest from Randall Robinson or Jesse Jackson? They could have forced Clinton's hand. But, in one of the most shameful chapters in our history, they stood by and watched ... and said nothing.
Shame on them. Shame on Clinton. Shame on us for letting these people get away with their inhumanity. Those 800,000 innocents deserved better than the cowardice of Bill Clinton and the Congressional Black Caucus.
Nat Dawson
DeLand, Florida
Dear FRONTLINE,
Your question "would the world respond differently this time" should be asked "would governments respond differently this time"
I do not belive that governments would act any different,they would stand by a do nothing.
I do beleve that indidivals would do something.
The words of "USA has no friends just interests" explain why governments did nothing in Rwanda and why they would do nothing next time.
There will be a next time. It is just a mater of when and who.
With great sadness I feel I should have done something but did nothing and will never do nothing again.
David Sarookanian
Dear FRONTLINE,
as long as the world views human lives in the context of their own race or people, we will continue to allow for more cases of genocide to happen. The world should intervene, without any hesitation, when the safety of a people is threatened.
daisy deltoro
bronx, ny
Dear FRONTLINE,
This is perhaps one the most tragic stories that I have seen in my 33 years of existence. My deep frustration is that I cannot decide if the genocide itself is most tragic, or our "civilized" society's failure to act, in the obvious face of this evil.
Edward Rowan
mobile, alabama
Dear FRONTLINE,
I thought your program "Ghost of Rwanda" was a powerful look at the past.
In keeping with the message, I think a quick follow on about the ongoing tragedy in Sudan could be so valuable and helpful in the present.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/31/opinion/31KRIS.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3559621.stm
Smitha Reddy
Wappingers Falls, NY
Dear FRONTLINE,
Dante wrote "[t]he hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who, in a moment of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality." (parahrase). ÝI am not a religious man, but that observation is all I could think of while watching Frontline contrast the bravery of a few aid workers and disobedient UN officers who chose to act, and the shameful neutrality of the Clinton Administration, Kofi Anon's United Nations, the Belgians, and the entire rest of the world. Ý If Dante is right, many will have much to answer for in the hereafter.
Andrew Skroback
New York, New York
Dear FRONTLINE,
I had the opportunity to meet General Dallaire this past summer. The emotional scars he showed were extremely powerful and his lecture was incredibly moving. Through it all, he kept coming back to his responsibility and the failure of himself and his mission. I commend Frontline for bringing into my living room, a reality that is all to painful to deal with. The Rwandan Genocide must be shared with every person who has a sense of social responsibility and the concept of "Never Again" must never be forgotten.
Kirsty Elgert
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Dear FRONTLINE,
This episode makes an analagous case for a quicker US intervention in Iraq! Hussein's genocide of Iraqis went unchecked for a generation. So what's the point? Should the US commit its sons and daughters in other nations' civil wars? And if the "right" side looses that civil war, should the US step in after so many lives were already lost to fix the outcome? If that were to be the case, then shouldn't the US intervene sooner, rather than later? The episode supports the position that the US should be the world's police force.
Walter Michalik 
| 
