ROMEO DALLAIRE-5 YEARS OF DISCUSSION

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Good call, Blue Max, ....just did a quick cut/paste/search on this site and came up with 9 different articles on said Senator.

OK...we got one... .

 

[childs56]

mission before self. That has always been and always will be the way military operations are handled. Ths fact that he didnt intervene showed one of two things 1) he was a coward and to scared to do anything about it.  2) he realized that he did not have the mission assets to cull the situation at hand. The fact that the locals had a contempt for the Belgiums and French is one of the many problems with the mission at hand. You cannot blame the Commander for a lack of action on his Chain of command to stop such actions. The bottom line is he took on a mission that no one wanted, and no one supported. The fact that he had to outweigh  the lives of a few men for the lives of more is never an easy choice. He made a descsion and it will be forever in his thoughts i am sure. The fact that his Commanders (the UN and one very high ranking General from Canada) failed to take action shows that he had no choice to do what he did. I am not on the mans side. But when everything is stacked against you, you have to make tough choices, The saying damned if you do and damned of you dont seems to apply here. It is unfortunate and we have the choice to sit back and criticize what he did and say what we would have done.

 

[mz589]

"¢ Thousands, tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of lives could be saved by dispatching a few hundred Canadian paratroopers - right away - ready and able to fight to restore order, as the Belgians were unable to do, because of their national ROEs and the UN's mandate.

I have little doubt that, in April 1994, a few hundred Canadian paratroopers could have been warned, prepared and loaded on to chartered commercial jets in Ottawa - within a matter of days, back then.   I have no doubt that one good, solid Canadian infantry lieutenant colonel with those few hundred maroon (not baby blue) beret wearing soldiers could have rescued Rwanda, and Dallaire.

Such an action would have required leaders in Ottawa; let me see, Jean Chrétien was PM, André Oulette was Foreign Minister, David Collenette was Defence Minister and Jocelyne Bourgon was Clerk of the Privy Council; now there's a team which filled us all with confidence, no?

Just a couple of things..

1) While I agree we probably could have prevented the genocide, when has Canada ever taken an action of type that you are suggesting entirely on its own?

2) Given that the above has never happened, its pretty unrealistic that Canada would defy the UN and act alone when the world's only superpower wouldn't get off its ass to help.

3) You can blame it on our politicians at the time and claim they weren't leaders but they were hardly alone in that respect. There was no leadership being shown by any of our allies or the US and UN. Sure Canada could have led the charge but its pretty hard to beleive that they weren't getting mixed intelligence from the UN also. I find it hard to beleive that under the same circumstances their is any government in our history as a nation that would have acted differently.


Hindsight is always 20/20 which is pretty much my whole problem with the National Post article.

 

[mz589]

YES!

Lets concentrate on his behaviour when he came home! How he became a drunk, wandering the streets of Ottawa.

How he continually drew attention to the tragedy in Rwanda, but failed to take any responsibility himself, or place it where it is arguably more deserved, on Maurice Baril and Kofi Annan, presumably in an effort to ensure his gold - plated pension.

Uh didn't he in fact try to kill himself? That doesn't sound like someone concerned about his pension to me.

 

[GO!!!]

Uh, did you source that? - did'nt think so.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Just a couple of things..

1) While I agree we probably could have prevented the genocide, when has Canada ever taken an action of type that you are suggesting entirely on its own?

2) Given that the above has never happened, its pretty unrealistic that Canada would defy the UN and act alone when the world's only superpower wouldn't get off its *** to help.

3) You can blame it on our politicians at the time and claim they weren't leaders but they were hardly alone in that respect. There was no leadership being shown by any of our allies or the US and UN. Sure Canada could have led the charge but its pretty hard to beleive that they weren't getting mixed intelligence from the UN also. I find it hard to beleive that under the same circumstances their is any government in our history as a nation that would have acted differently.


Hindsight is always 20/20 which is pretty much my whole problem with the National Post article.

You are quite correct that no-one did anything because, in the general, global foreign policy calculus Rwanda, like all of black Africa, simply doesn't matter enough - not after the Somalia debacle.   (Not the CAR incident; rather the US experience which terrified Clinton's administration and, consequently, coloured the perception of the Chrétien team.)

But, just a very few years, a few dozen months earlier Canada had been looking, actively, for opportunities to:

"¢ Enhance its global image by doing something - even if it turned out to be wasteful or wrong - in (maybe for) Africa; and

"¢ Show leadership - that was the OK phrase in the '80s and '90s.

It is not at all hard for me to believe that a different Canadian government, in our very recent history, would have acted differently, decisively and with alacrity.

I dare say that Dallaire wished for a different, lantern jawed, leader, surrounded by different people.   Chrétien, acting in lock step with Clinton, returned us to Trudeau's deeply flawed, ill considered little Canada policy.   Too bad for Dallaire, too bad for Rwanda, too bad for Canada, too.

Moderators : can you, please, merge this with the other Dallaire thread in Canadian Army, up above?  

EDIT: In the name of Meagan, it shall be done.

 

[mz589]

Uh, did you source that? - did'nt think so.

Did I source what? That he attempted suicide? Its pretty common knowledge but if you need a source then here is one....

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1081200929896_5?s_name=&no_ads=

"But after a suicide attempt and a series of mental breakdowns, Dallaire wasn't sure he would be able to complete the project."