"What's worse? A society that allows soldiers to shoot children who throw stones, or a society that sends its children to be shot? [...shrugs]"

--Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire, Jan. 25, 2005


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Tonight was another one of those mindblowing experiences.

I know I know - I throw that term around too much. But this time I mean it. If you don't know Romeo Dallaire by name, you probably still know who he is in the general sense.

Dallaire, a 35-year veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces, was Force Commander for the U.N. mission to Rwanda during the genocide. Yeah, that guy.

(OK OK, if you're still confused, he's the guy Nick Nolte plays in the film Hotel Rwanda.)

Tonight he gave a presentation to a couple hundred folk sponsored by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations. 35 bucks if you're not a member, 25 if you are, and 10 if you're a student. Plus a cash bar. It's good to be king.

Thank God they had that cash bar, cause not five minutes into Dallaire's speech I sure needed that Chivas on the rocks.

Knowing I'd probably want to post about the talk, I took a few notes to try my best and do Dallaire justice...which is a tall order. But here goes:

First of all, Dallaire's got one hell of a 'stache. That thing is a force to be reckoned with.

Secondly, when you hear him talk think Celine Dion except male and from the sound of things probably able to kill you with his index finger. (He's Quebecois)

He's probably seen more horrors and crimes against humanity - on a widespread basis - than even the average soldier in the Mideast these days. Philip Gourevich documented in We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families of how Dallaire's hands were tied - of how neither the U.S. nor the U.N. gave him the go-ahead or assistance or troops needed to prevent the genocide happening all around him. Of how it took months for them to even use the word "genocide." Of how the whole thing was written off as a savage tribal conflict, inconsequential to the security of the West - especially after '93 Somalia - and therefore not a priority.

"I only needed 5,000 troops in the first ten days."

He said that tonight. He's still pissed about it. I don't think he'll be getting over it any time soon. [*gasp* you don't say!]

So the guy should be pretty disillusioned - but he was actually pretty upbeat about the future.

Well, that is, after we got past the slide on his PowerPoint presentation of the rotting corpse of a Sudanese child - the boy's skull features starting to emerge.

Somebody pass me the Chivas.

con't, part II, to follow...