Annoyed though I am by Hillary’s claim to have solved the Irish Question, it’s nothing compared to her – how to put it? – revisionist claims about the Rwandan genocide. These are revolting. Hilzoy lays it all out here in a post* that’s as enraging as it is sickening. The conclusion:
I think it’s a lot more likely that she either didn’t advocate action on Rwanda at all, or did so only in passing. If so, this would have to be the definitive example of her attempt to claim responsibility for everything good that happened during her husband’s presidency, while disavowing all responsibility for his mistakes. This was, in my opinion, the most shameful moment of the Clinton administration. It ought, by rights, to have a place in Hillary Clinton’s “thirty five years of experience working for change.” Or perhaps she might claim that she wasn’t that interested in foreign policy at the time, or that for whatever reason she just didn’t pick up on the genocide in Rwanda until it was too late to act. That would at least be honest. But if, in fact, Clinton missed the chance to urge her husband to help stop the Rwandan genocide, then she should not pretend that she was, in fact, right there on the side of the angels all along. That’s just grotesque.
*Hilzoy quotes Samantha Power extensively. But remember that her book was written long before she joined the Obama campaign. Hilzoy also consulted eight books on the Rwandan genocide: Hillary isn’t mentioned in any of them.
UPDATE: Links fixed, I hope. Thanks.
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