Northwest Center for Holocaust, Genocide and Ethnocide Education

Review

"A Problem From Hell"  Overview written by James Lehman. 

In her book A Problem from Hell, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Samantha Power provides us a disturbing examination of 20^th century acts of genocide as well as documentation of the unwillingness and consequential lack of response by the United States to these atrocities.  This must read book on genocide and American foreign policy is a powerful resource for teachers, with many quotes, pictures, references and also an extensive bibliography.  Ms. Power, currently the executive director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at John F. Kennedy School of Government, adamantly criticizes the United States for its reluctance to become involved in the prevention of genocide, documenting repeatedly how American officials preferred to remain neutral rather than take the risk of engagement. 

Ms. Power starts by elaborating upon history and etymology of the term “genocide” and then examining several genocides starting with the Armenian genocide at the beginning of the twentieth century and ending with the atrocity in Kosovo in 1999.  Chapters are devoted to the Holocaust, the fate of the Armenians, the Genocidal Convention, Cambodia, Iraq, Bosnia, Rwanda, Srebrenica and Kosovo.  Final chapters carefully examine the failures of American foreign policy.  Power’s work is thoroughly footnoted providing readers with access to the sources of her assertions.  What follows is an overview of the content of the book as well as suggested uses for educators.

In 1915, the Turkish government tried to systematically eliminate the Armenian Christians, leading to the first genocide of the 20^th century.  Before and during the Armenian genocide, American ambassador Henry Morgenthau consistently reported to Washington about the horrors that were taking place.  Nonetheless, American officials did not act because Americans were not endangered and the United States wanted to remain neutral and distant to European affairs.  In the end, over 1 million Armenians were slaughtered in Turkey. 

Following the Armenian genocide, and prior to the Holocaust,  Raphael Lemkin, a prominent Polish Jew that would lose over 40 of his relatives in the Holocaust, began expressing information about the Armenian genocide and also the atrocities that were beginning to build in Europe.  After the Holocaust and World War II, Lemkin wanted to find a word that conveyed the message he was trying tell people.  The word Lemkin finally proposed was genocide, which derives from the Greek word genos, which means race/family/tribe and the Latin word cide, which means killing.   

After the Holocaust many American officials coined the saying “never again.” “Never again” would the world remain idle while acts of genocide take place.  In that vein, in 1948, the United Nations passed a resolution that made genocide an international crime, even though it would take several decades for the United States to ratify the resolution.  Nonetheless, genocide did not disappear, and the United States and other countries were put to the test to see if they would take the necessary steps outlined in the Genocide Convention to stop acts of genocide. 

In the sixth chapter, Power describes the first genocide of the post Holocaust era.  In April of 1975 the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, took control of Cambodia from the U.S. backed Lon Nol government.  Many Cambodians welcomed the change and believed the Khmer Rouge could finally bring peace to the country.  However, the brutal Khmer Rouge regime brought terror and genocide instead of peace.  In the end, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge killed 2 million out of a population of 7 million Cambodians.  It was not until Vietnam invaded the country that the killings stopped.  Throughout the genocide, Senator William Proximire repeatedly revealed what was taking place in Cambodia, but once again the American officials did not flinch.  It was not until Vietnam became involved that the U.S. was drawn in; however, the reasoning for involvement was not to help the Cambodian people.  The United States, still bitter over their defeat in Vietnam, sided with the Khmer Rouge in opposing Vietnam.  In this chapter we read that President Jimmy Carter stated that the United States was siding with the lesser evil.

Senator Proximire continued to draw attention to the Cambodian genocide after it took place to get the U.S. to ratify the Genocide Convention.  Many years later, in 1986 the United States ratified the convention only under the circumstances that the “United States could decide whether it would appear before a world court.”  At this point over 100 nations around the world had ratified the convention; however, genocide would still be a challenge. 

In the eighth chapter, Power examines the atrocities that resided in Iraq.  In 1987 Saddam Hussein began gassing and killing the minority Kurdish population in Iraq.  Iraqi leaders claimed that it was a counter-insurgency mission against armed Kurds; however, every Kurdish man, woman and child that resided in rural areas was targeted.  Hussein tried to cover up the genocide by saying that it was a part of the war with Iran, or more specifically that the Kurds were assisting Iranians and were therefore considered rebels.  Under this assumption, the United States treated the Iraqi violence as an understandable attempt to suppress rebellion.  In fact, the U.S. even allied with Iraq because of its suspicion of Iran as a radical Islam state that could gain control of the Middle East and cut oil off from the U.S.  With this knowledge Hussein felt he could get away with the massacres which evidently led to the death of over 100,000 Kurds. 

Beginning on chapter 9, and continuing on chapters 11&12, Power’s examines the genocides in the Balkans, many events of which she would cover extensively in her career.  In 1991, the diverse country of Bosnia, comprising of 43% Muslim, 35% Serb, and 18% Croat would plunge into genocide.  The Serbs, under the leadership of Slobodan Milosevic, began a vicious offensive aimed at creating an ethnically homogenous state by killing, pillaging, and raping Muslim and Croats.  For 3 ½ years the U.S., Europe, and the United Nations remained still while some 200,000 Bosnians were killed and another 2 million were displaced.  There were sanctions and humanitarian aid but the U.S. and it allies did not intervene with military force until it was too late. 

A similar genocidal atrocity took place in the small African country Rwanda in 1994.  The Hutu majority decided to try and systematically eliminate all of its minority Tutsi population.  The violence that ensued was like no other of its time.  Killing parties were sent all over the country with machetes being the most common weapon.  In the end 800,000 Tutsi would lose their lives in only 100 days.  During this time the U.N. had peacekeepers in the country and was fully aware of what was taking place.  In addition the U.N. and the U.S. were warned of what was going to take place by Romeo Dallaire (U.N. commanding officer in Rwanda).  Dallaire frequently requested and appealed for reinforcements, but unfortunately he was denied.  The U.S. had the opportunity to destroy or jam the radio Mille Collin (the radio station which was responsible for spreading hate and propaganda across the country).  However, the U.S. declined because they felt the operation was too expensive.

In her eleventh chapter, Power describes the violence that broke out in the Balkans in the summer of 1995 in the region of Srebrenica.  This region was created to be a safe area for Muslims by the U.N.  Nonetheless, on July 11, 1995 Bosnian Serb forces overran and seized Srebrenica and immediately slaughtered 7,000 Muslims.  Several Americans, including Kansas Senator Bob Doyle began calling for the use of U.N. force to deter the Serbs from the Bosnian safe zones.  The U.S. remained reluctant, but finally on 30 August 1995 NATO planes began bombing Serb military strongholds, which led to a break in the killings.  However, Bosnian Serbs once again began attacking civilian populations in 1999 in the Kosovo region, which Power describes in chapter 12.  The Serbs launched Operation Horseshoe, which sought to rid as many Albanians as possible.  In the end, Slobodan Milosevic’s forces drove more than 1.3 million Kosovo’s from their homes and killed more than 10,000.  Unlike previous genocides of the 20^th century the U.S. and its allies intervened and began bombing Milosevic’s forces.  There were critics that claimed the intervention was not purely humanitarian since the U.S. needed the build credibility because it began to look weak from its involvement in Bosnia over the years.  Nonetheless, the intervention by the U.S. and its allies ended up saving many lives. 

According to Power, the United States has made modest progress in its response to genocide over the last century, but the U.S. continues to struggle with the meaning and implications of using the term and has consistently refused to take risks in order to suppress genocide.  American officials often feel that since American interests are not considered to be at risk with most cases of genocide, then involvement is unnecessary and neutrality is the reasonable solution.  In addition to this response American officials also claim that they did not know what was taking place; however, this was not the case since reports from ambassadors and intelligence analysts depicting the atrocities reached the desks in Washington throughout the 20^th century.  Ms. Power argues that Americans must hold U.S. leaders accountable for inaction against genocide.  She mentions that the fear is to avoid another “Somalia” or another “Vietnam”, but rarely is it mentioned to avoid another “Rwanda.”   

Power comes to the conclusion that the main reason for American reluctance to stop genocide resolves from a lack of will.  American leaders believed genocide was wrong, but they were not prepared to invest the military, financial, or diplomatic investments needed to stop it.  Ms. Power argues, quite convincingly, that ending genocide is in the self-interest of the U.S.  and strengthens her argument by pointing out that historically, perpetrators of genocide do not stop with their own country or region.  Hitler took his purges into Europe, Saddam Hussein went after Kuwait and Milosevic went after Kosovo.  Therefore, it is in the self-interest of the United States to prevent genocide before the perpetrators reach the global arena and inflict trauma around the world. 

For the educator

There are many resources in this text that can be used in a classroom, particularly a social studies class.  Here are several examples:

In chapter 8 (p.171 – 245) the reader may find information on the Iraqi genocide and the brutalities of Saddam Hussein, which directly relates to the current charges Hussein is facing in the Iraqi court on charges of war crimes and genocide.  Pages 241-245 describe the evidence that have been mounted against Hussein that relate to the charges.  For example:

More than 70,000 Kurds have returned to the town where VX, sarin, and mustard gas were combined in deadly cocktails.  Survivors remain blinded from corneal scarring from mustard gas burns.  Miscarriages and birth defects such as cleft palates and harelips recur in the maternity ward of the Martyrs hospital…Human Rights Watch dispatched its researchers to Iraqi Kurdistan in 1992 and 1993, where they interviewed some 350 survivors and witnesses to the slaughter.  The organization exhumed mass graves and gathered forensic material, such as traces of chemical weapons found in soil samples and bomb shrapnel, as well as the skeletons of the victims themselves.  Excavators found rope still tying the hands of the decomposed men, women and children…For the first time in its history, Human Rights Watch found that a country had committed genocide.

Further information, valuable to the social studies teacher whose students may be following the news, may be found about Slobodan Milosevic, who (at the time of this writing) is currently on trial in the International War Crimes Tribunal for his past genocidal actions in Bosnia, Srebrencia and Kosovo.  The text (pages 475 and 476) outlines the arrests and trial of Milosevic and other Serbian war criminals. 

Another particular point that may be worth examining is the relationship between the trials of Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic.  Milosevic faces trial on the International War Crimes Tribunal, while Hussein faces trial in the Iraqi courts under the guidance of the U.S. 

Along with the text information in the book there are many pictures depicting characters and events that could be used in a classroom.  For example, there is a very graphic picture on page 363 depicting the atrocity that resided in Rwanda during the summer of 1994.  The picture shows a large front end loader pilling corpses on top of one another in the aftermath of the genocide.  Another powerful picture is on page 246 that shows Muslim and Croat prisoners in a concentration camp in Bosnia.  In the picture the men represent prisoners that have been deprived of proper nutrition and nourishment.  Page 18 has another picture where a boy is being forced to write Jude on his father’s store during the Nazi occupation of Austria.     

Overall, this book would be extremely useful for a classroom that is examining genocide and/or U.S. foreign policy.  According to the Fry Readability Scale this text reads ranges in the 11- 13^th grade level.  Hence teachers may have to provide instructional support to students, most of whom will find it difficult to read independently. 

The following list points out the pages in the book that describe particular acts of genocide in the last century. 

Armenian Genocide	p.1-10
The Holocaust	p.31-41
Cambodian Genocide	p.87-90
Iraqi Genocide	p.171-173
Bosnian Genocide	p.247-251
Rwandan Genocide	p.329-335
Srebrencian Genocide	p.391-393
Kosovo Genocide	p.443-448

 

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