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Dear FRONTLINE,
I think your program was produced too long ago to have been aware of that documents have come to light proving that the Clinton administration knew all along exactly how bad things were in Rwanda, and that they were using the term "genocide" repeatedly in private. (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/31/1080544556703.html) In my opinion Rwanda shows that leaders must feel a responsibility above and beyond the will of their people. The Americans, French, Belgians, and so many others did not want their governments or their troops to be involved, and the United Nations refused to fulfill its greatest responsibility as well. Mustering the will to risk lives for the benefit of strangers is incredibly difficult, but on occasion, that is exactly what this world requires. While military action should be considered a last resort, there are instances where it is undeniably an act of goodness, and in those times governments must act in the moral way rather than waiting for public support they know will never come.
John Bolick
Denver, NC
Dear FRONTLINE,
I am sick to my stomach sitting here watching the slaughter of innocent people with the knowledge that politics dictated who lived and who fell under the blades of machetes. As the night settles upon breaking news of the inhumane slaughter of Americans in Iraq and talks of forceful retaliation in the air; I am once again reminded that we are only concerned with self interest and lack the compassion and mercy that is required of a world leader. I wonder how much longer slaughter around the world must continue before we realized that this world is smaller than we would like it to be and that atrocities of this kind are not so far away or so remote. i want to commend Frontline for producing such an important piece of journalism. Thank you for bringing to light the failures and moral obligations of our peace keeping efforts.
Christian Sann
Boston, MA
Dear FRONTLINE,
This is not the first time in history that genocide has occurred and it won't be the last. It is time to stop being surprised and shocked that we humans are capable of such horrors; and to start figuring out what the constellation of events and circumstances are that unleashes these massacres and intervening once we see the constellation forming. Rwanda was a textbook example of how not to do it. Those poor people.
John Howard
La Canada-Flintridge, California
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