BYSTANDERS TO GENOCIDE

Flicking on the remote, at home, I stopped suddenly, on seeing Samantha Power, the outgoing U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, berating some stony-faced males seated opposite her.  One was a Russian representative.  Her outburst was hot and scolding, sprayed at Syria, Russia and Iran.

"Aleppo will join the ranks of those events in world history that define modern evil, that stain our consciences decades later.  Halabja, Rwanda, Srebrenica, and, now, Aleppo.  Your barrel bombs and mortars and airstrikes have allowed the militia in Aleppo to encircle tens of thousands of civilians in your ever-tightening noose.  Are you truly incapable of shame?  Is there nothing that can shame you?  Is there no act of barbarism against civilians, no execution of a child that gets under your skin, that just creeps you out a little bit?  Is there nothing you will not lie about or justify?"

Phew!  Great stuff!  But hang on.  Samantha Power was part of the Obama administration and this language is most unlike that used by Obama.  Note: these fiery words were spent on December, 2016, five weeks before the end of the Obama presidency, and three and half years into Power's tenure as America's UN ambassador.  

Consider those words, in the context of the past crimes of genocide she listed, Halabja, (A gas attack on Kurds in Iraq), occurred on the watch of George H.W. Bush.  Rwanda, Srebrenica and Aleppo occurred during the administrations of presidents Clinton and Obama.  Power was unsparing in her criticism of the Clinton
administration's handling of the Rwandan genocide in 1994.  In 2001, she published an article called, "Bystanders to Genocide". In it, she excoriated the administration for its indifference.  In Power's own time, as a servant of the Obama administration, she witnessed weak, ineffectual intervention by the U.S in the Syrian conflict, which allowed Assad, Russia and Iran to operate unhindered in the ethnic cleansing of Sunni Arabs by Shiite-Iranian militia.  Obama's administration to use Samantha Power's title looked like another "bystander to genocide".

So was Samantha Power, in fact, venting her frustration with Obama's inaction when she gave both barrels to the boys on the other side of the UN?  Could be.  We await with interest to see whether she supports the Trump administration's prompt military response against Assad's regime for its recent gas attacks on civilians including children.