For those of you who want a first-hand account of Dachau by a survivor, please read Elie Wiesel’s book "Night."  I highly recommend it.

Regards,
Peter H.

Houndentenor, I hate to break this to you, but that is EMPHATICALLY not the case.

And that’s just one example — not to mention others.

As Robert points out, people who are willing to carry out wholesale slaughter of others based on their race, religion, or whatnot are not going to be stopped by what amount to nasty letters to the editor coming from the UN, which has a long and proud history of publicly condemning that for which it is privately receiving billions of dollars in kickbacks. It requires action. Rwanda and Somalia proved that.

Again, I offer an olive branch and get my hand bit.  Oh well, I tried.  I care VERY much about this issue and I am not going to excuse the failure of the Clinton administration to do anything at all about Rwanda.  There is no excuse, just as there is no excuse for Bush’s inaction with regards to Sudan.  (note I am not talking only about military action which could very likely make the situation worse but diplomatic pressure in cooperation with the other world leaders.  I think the government would cave if everyone agreed not to buy their oil until the genocide was stopped.  Of course the real problem in that regard is China, not the US. )

And again I do not speak for anyone but myself but Bush deserves credit for concern and action with regards to Africa, especially the ongoing AIDS crisis there.  I don’t have much good to say about Bush but he has not only been concerned but followed through with funding to help the continent.  I will agree with those who say he does not get enough credit for that.  (Note: it is covered in the media even if it is not as prominent as one would like.  I didn’t have to dig too hard to find stories about this.)

I highly doubt those on the left actually give a damn about genocide, unless it’s fashionable to oppose it. Besides, in a perfect world, where would Brngelina and Madonna get their African kids to match their black shoes?

Stopping genocide takes action – often brutal and messy.

When the Nazis (and Imperial Japan) were finally stopped, it wasn’t gaseous platitudes and wishful thinking that did it. It was Allied blood and treasure, in unimaginable portions, that did it. It was brutality beyond the ability of most of us to imagine.

Today’s West would not be up to the task. We’re too busy surrendering to the ideologies that hold genocide as some sort of holy mission. Our oil supplies are too important; too many countries profit by doing business with tyrants (all while calling the US "imperialist").

I haven’t toured the camps.  I think it might be too much for me.  I have been through the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam which I would highly recommend.

Because we all agree on this, I am hoping that we can band together to stand against genocide anywhere in the world.  If all the people in the world put social and economic pressure on the countries that allow (or are responsible for) the slaughter of people for ethnic, religious or any other reasons, we might not end it but we could come very close.

As usual, it’s one thing to read about it, another to hear a lecture about it and even more impressionable to see it. Wouldn’t it be something if there were a non-profit or something put together to take school children to these places and other locations which, good or bad, shaped who we are as people? At the very least, all schools should have videos of such subjects on hand.

On Holocaust deniers: Frankly I don’t get it. Germany doesn’t deny it happened, so there you are. If Germany, as a whole, did deny it, then I might see where they had a leg to stand on. Besides, en total, I think it’s waaaayyyyy too elaborate to be a hoax. Too many people involved.