Speaking of Rowanda...
Basically, the UN went in and disarmed the civilian population (standard proceedure for "peacekeeping missions") for their own protection. Then, of course, they had to rely on the UN soldiers for protection. Well, one day, the UN decides they were done, packed up, and went home. This over protests of many of the soldiers insisting that the civilians would be defenseless against their armed opposition. The protests were ignored.
What happened next is absolutely DISGUSTING in an age with the Internet and cell phones. Approx. 1200 "ethnic cleansers" killed 300,000 of the disarmed civilians, most of them with machettes, over a several-month period, totally ignored by the UN, the US, and the world, until film crews started putting pictures of piles of hacked up corpses on CNN. Suddenly, it was "UN to the rescue."
Note that this is NOT the first time this has happened. THINK about 300,000 people being hacked apart in YOUR county (some counties aren't even that big), and being defenseless. Now realize that this was the mid-90s! Not back in the "old days", but NOW, in YOUR lifetime. GENOCIDE.
Genocides aren't supposed to be able to occur anymore, or so most Americans tell their children. But then, the UN is good, and feeds people. Can't we all just get along?
-Troy