FOR WHOM THE BELLS TOLL

…[O]n April 21, 1994, the [United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda,]UNAMIR commander, Major General Dallaire, declared that with just five thousand well-equipped soldiers and a free hand to fight Hutu power, he could bring the genocide to a rapid halt… Yet, on the same day, the UN Security Council passed a resolution that slashed the UNAMIR force by ninety percent… The desertion of Rwanda by the UN force was Hutu Power's greatest diplomatic victory to date, and it can be credited almost single-handedly to the United States… [T]he Clinton Administration's ambassador to the UN, Madeleine Albright, opposed leaving even the skeleton crew of two hundred seventy in Rwanda. -- Philip Gourevitch in We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families: Stories from Rwanda. Pg. 150, © 1998. About 800,000 Rwandans, mostly Tutsi, were systematically killed by Hutu genocidaires in 100 days in 1994.

Even though we said we were helping
What we did was no good
Even though we tried to be clever
Tutsis all got screwed
Even though we thought we were careful
We just tightened the noose
Even though I thought we learned something
That is far from the truth

Moral cowards, egos, hypocrites
Hiding behind a mask of outrage

Definitions, word games, and syntax
Brought the world an evil result

Don't you think it's time to account for
All the info we knew
Don't you think it's time to confront what
We all failed to do
Don't you think it's time to stop saying
We don't know what to do
Don't you think it's time to transform what
Human rights groups do

Doesn't help compassion's an industry
Porno-misery Marketing ploys

Direct mail, same kind of gimmicks that
Sells the products on the TV

"Our Dear Leader, Pastor Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, How are you? We wish you to be strong in all these problems we are facing. We wish to inform you that we have heard that tomorrow we will be killed with our families. We therefore request you to intervene on our behalf…"

And the Pastor did nothing
And Albright did "nothing"
And the U.S. did "nothing"
So the U.N. did "nothing"

So we all watched
And they all died
For what?
Genocide