Nobody’s talking about it in the United States. Not even Rush Limbaugh. In the American press, there’s been a virtual blackout of coverage. In fact, only Agence France Presse, the London Telegraph and the South China Morning Post, of all the world’s media, have given any serious attention to the incredible story of United Nations peacekeeping atrocities in Somalia.
You have to ask yourself, why?
How sensational is this non-story? Yesterday, the London Telegraph, in a combined dispatch with AFP, reported that Belgian troops roasted a Somali boy. Roasted him! And what was the sentence for this peace crime committed during an operation dubbed ironically “Restore Hope”? A military court sentenced two paratroopers to a month in jail and a fine of 200 pounds.
And, apparently, this is not just an isolated incident. Another Belgian soldier stands accused of forcing a young Somali to eat pork, drink salt water and then eat his own vomit. Another sergeant is suspected of having murdered a Somali whom he was photographed urinating upon. Another child, accused of stealing food from the paratroopers’ base, died after being locked in a storage container for 48 hours. Fifteen other members of the same regiment were investigated in 1995 for “acts of sadism and torture” against Somali civilians.
But, don’t worry, says Defense Minister Jean-Pol Poncelet. Any soldier convicted of criminal acts in Somalia will be — are you ready? — dishonorably discharged.
The pattern of abuse is also not confined to Belgian troops. Belgium is actually the third country in the peacekeeping group to charge troops with serious crimes against Somali citizens — including rape, torture and murder. In 1995, a group of Canadian paratroopers were investigated for torturing a Somali to death and killing three others.
Earlier this month, gruesome photos were published in a Milan magazine of Italian soldiers torturing a Somali youth and abusing and raping a Somali girl. Paratroopers claim they were specifically trained in methods of torture to aid interrogation. According to one witness, Italian soldiers tied a young Somali girl to the front of an armored personnel carrier and raped her while officers looked on.
On Monday, the South China Morning Post published an AFP report about an Italian battalion commander who sexually abused and strangled a 13-year-old Somali boy. There are also allegations that, in 1993, Italian soldiers beat seven suspected Somali thieves, killing one; that they beat to death a 14-year-old boy who sold a false medal and beat a couple in a car.
Last week, an Italian paratrooper was quoted as saying: “What’s the big deal? They are just niggers anyway.”
Welcome to the New World Order, folks, where, when you get right down to it, we’re all just niggers anyway. Here’s what you get when you send foreign “peacekeeping” troops into situations they can’t begin to comprehend. Do you think the Somali people will ever forget the lessons they learned from these “saviors”?
Isn’t this an incredible story? Aren’t you amazed you haven’t been reading this anywhere else? I mean, how is such a thing possible in this enlightened age of multiculturalism and global communication? Why aren’t there high-profile trials for the perpetrators of these savage acts of brutality? Why isn’t anyone questioning the expanding role of such peacekeeping operations, given the barbarity of the Somali experience?
I’ll tell you why. Because there is a consensus with the political and media establishment elite that such operations are a good thing — that such operations will inevitably and wisely lead toward more global governance and less nationalism. So, if a few Somalis or Bosnians or Haitians happen to be brutalized along the way, that’s just the price one must pay for world peace and prosperity.
I wonder where the survivors of such atrocities are supposed to turn for justice? Do you think the World Court would hear their cases? I doubt it. That’s the trouble with centralized power. It’s never accountable. But, then again, does it really matter to anyone? I mean, after all, they’re just niggers anyway, right?
