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September 29, 2006
Reading about Genocide
To be precise, Gourevitch's ghoulishly titled book on Rwanda: We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families. I wanted to jot down a humorous (well, darkly humorous) comment made to the journalist by an American military intelligence officer in a Kigali bar.
Oddly, it reminds me of L's buddy in Baghdad who observed (in reference to US inability to gather intel or maintain local alliances in Iraq): "You ain't no kinda pimp if your own whores don't want to be seen with you."
Crude but insightful.
"I hear you're interested in genocide," the American said. "Do you know what genocide is?"I asked him to tell me.
"A cheese sandwich," he said. "Write it down. Genocide is a cheese sandwich."
I asked him how he figured that.
"What does anyone care about a cheese sandwich?" he said. "Genocide, genocide, genocide. Cheese sandwich, cheese sandwich, cheese sandwich. Who gives a shit? Crimes against humanity. Where's humanity? Who's humanity? You? Me? Did you see a crime committed against you? Hey, just a million Rwandans. Did you ever hear about the Genocide Convention?"
I said I had.
"That convention," the American at the bar said, "makes a nice wrapping for a cheese sandwich."
In other news, SwissGroove is a pretty cool station.
Posted by eerie at September 29, 2006 08:56 PM
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Random Notes
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Comments
Excellent book! If you have more interest in reading books about Rwanda or the wider region, Tom Odom's (he was a US Army Foreign Area Officer who spent nearly 3 years in the old Zaire and Rwanda (as well as traveling up and down Africa beforehand) before, during and after the genocide) article about Rwanda is quite good.
He also wrote an excellent book about his experiences in Zaire dealing with the Hutu refugee situation, working with the RPA government in the aftermath of the genocide and his many experiences with Rwandans and the people of what we now call the Congo.
Posted by: Eddie at October 7, 2006 06:08 AM
Thanks Eddie, I've been getting interested in Rwanda lately so good references are always welcome.
Tough reading though, esp when looking at the institutional/diplo failures.
Posted by: eerie ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://eerie.aqoul.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at October 10, 2006 12:22 PM
Greetings,
Thanks for the kind comments on the book and article. Reference the cheese sandwich remark,
my Navy Chief Mickey Dunham made that to Phil when we were dealing with a rash of reporters new to Rwanda after the Kibeho massacre (April 95). Mick's point was it was too easy for too many observers to simply act like the genocide was ancient history (1994) when reporting on events in 1995.
For related African history, go the the CGSC/CSI Press page and look at LP#14 on the 1964 Congo Crisis or the Special Study on the 1978 Shaba Intervention. You can read both on line.
Best
Tom
Posted by: Tom Odom at November 23, 2006 10:14 AM
Thanks for the additional notes, Tom. I really enjoyed your article linked above.
Also, I'm planning to pick up the Dallaire book soon, still haven't got Rwanda out of my system.
Posted by: eerie at November 28, 2006 08:00 PM
