bill clinton
Bill Clinton on Foreign Policy
President of the U.S., 1993-2001; Former Democratic Governor (AR)
Bill Clinton on 1990s Policies
1994: Briefed on Rwandan genocide but claimed ignorance
The callousness of our government is shockingly clear when you look back at the Clinton administration's position on the genocide that took place in Rwanda in 1994. For the three-month period starting in April that year, Hutu death squads slaughtered an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate members of their own tribe.
A few years later, when Clinton visited Rwandan capital of Kigali, the president said: "It may seem strange to you here, especially the many of you who lost members of your family, but all over the world there were people like me sitting in the offices, day after day after day, who did fully appreciate the depth and speed with which you were being engulfed by this unimaginable terror."
The CIA's national intelligence daily, a secret briefing that went to Clinton and Vice President Gore and hundreds of senior officials, had almost daily reports on what was happening in Rwanda.
Expanded US role to Somalian nation-building
US troop presence, which began under Pres. Bush, was initially sent to alleviate an acute starvation crisis brought on by political chaos. But under Clinton the mission had crept t rooting out warlords and providing security. McCain was having none of it: "Mr. President, our mission in Somali is over," he said on the Senate floor. "It is time to come home. Our mission is Somali was to feed a million starving who needed to be fed. It was not an open-ended commitment. It was not a commission of nation building, not warlord hunting, or any of the other extraneous activities which we seem to have been engaged in. If the President of the United States cannot say, 'Here is what we are fighting for in Somalia, that more Americans may perish in service to the goals, and here is why it is worth that price,' then, Mr. President, we have no right--no
President of the U.S., 1993-2001; Former Democratic Governor (AR)
Bill Clinton on 1990s Policies
1994: Briefed on Rwandan genocide but claimed ignorance
The callousness of our government is shockingly clear when you look back at the Clinton administration's position on the genocide that took place in Rwanda in 1994. For the three-month period starting in April that year, Hutu death squads slaughtered an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate members of their own tribe.
A few years later, when Clinton visited Rwandan capital of Kigali, the president said: "It may seem strange to you here, especially the many of you who lost members of your family, but all over the world there were people like me sitting in the offices, day after day after day, who did fully appreciate the depth and speed with which you were being engulfed by this unimaginable terror."
The CIA's national intelligence daily, a secret briefing that went to Clinton and Vice President Gore and hundreds of senior officials, had almost daily reports on what was happening in Rwanda.
Expanded US role to Somalian nation-building
US troop presence, which began under Pres. Bush, was initially sent to alleviate an acute starvation crisis brought on by political chaos. But under Clinton the mission had crept t rooting out warlords and providing security. McCain was having none of it: "Mr. President, our mission in Somali is over," he said on the Senate floor. "It is time to come home. Our mission is Somali was to feed a million starving who needed to be fed. It was not an open-ended commitment. It was not a commission of nation building, not warlord hunting, or any of the other extraneous activities which we seem to have been engaged in. If the President of the United States cannot say, 'Here is what we are fighting for in Somalia, that more Americans may perish in service to the goals, and here is why it is worth that price,' then, Mr. President, we have no right--no