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Jared Mays

Professor Gordon

24 March 2017
Never Again

The US has been the predominant world power since WWII. After the war the UN was

formed and the motto never again was made about the Holocaust and other genocides, yet over

24 cases of genocides have occurred since then. Where was the US and UN during these

genocides and why didnt they intervene before it was too late? Out of the 24 genocides that have

happened, this essay will be considering Indonesian, Guatemalan, Cambodian, Rwandan, and

Syrian genocides.

With the ending of WWII, brought the Cold War, which escalated tensions between the

US and the USSR to heights of near nuclear fallout. Caught in between the clash were the

smaller countries recovering from WWII. Eastern Europe was left in ruins and from 1945-1960

began the decolonization of Africa, which left most of the region destabilized and created

conditions for genocides to be born. The US and its countries of influence took a hard stance

against communism to the point of genocide, which is the reasoning behind Indonesia (1965-

1967) and Guatemala (1968-1996).

Domino effect was the fear of the US government during the Cold War, which theorized

if one country of a region were to turn communist, then all surrounding countries would fall to it

as well. This theory drove the US to greatly expand its outreach to make new allies and prevent

Soviet influence. Coups were the driving force behind the genocides in Indonesia and Guatemala

in which the CIA backed both with financial aid and military training for officers.

In Guatemala, Jacobo Arbenz began to pass laws to benefit the lower class such as land

reform and voting rights were Communist views by the US. After the coup, Carlos Castillo
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Armas revoked these rights and began a long and bloody terror of abductions/murders of

Guatemalan civilians and left-wing rebels opposing him and the military. Even though Castillo

was murdered in 1958 the civil war and genocide continued until 1996 when Alvaro Arzu signed

a peace treaty with the rebels. However, Guatemala still faces large amounts of crime and

violence even though it has been nearly 20 years since the civil war ended.

Along with Guatemala, the coup in Indonesia is suspected to be backed by the CIA due to

fear of communism and abundant amount of oil available in the region. President Sukarno was

over-thrown by General Suharto on September 30, 1965 along with murders of several senior

generals. With Suharto in power, he began his witch hunt of communists throughout Indonesia.

Those suspected would be kidnapped then tortured until they admitted they were communists.

Forced disappearances, rape, and forced movement of people were also prevalent during the

genocide. The support of the CIA lacks hard evidence, but a B-26 bomber was shot down in

Indonesian territory and the pilot was captured with documents linking him the CIA. The

genocide destroyed the Communist Party of Indonesia and a former general estimated it killed

around 2 million people.

Both genocides were backed by the US and not heavily criticized by the western media

because they were simply killing communists. While the spread of communism is a main

point, the US economical position grew greatly from having capitalist leaders in place. In both

countries workers rights were non-existent and the poor suffered greatly. In Guatemala, the

United Fruit Companys plantations remained in control of the company instead of being

nationalized by President Arbenz. Both genocides were offspring of the Cold War and looking
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back those responsible should receive justice and the victims should get the investigation they

demand and deserve.

The Vietnam War was the largest stage of the Cold War. With the emergence of

television, citizens of the western world could see images of war in their homes every night.

Unlike the World Wars and Korean War, great opposition came from US citizens. With the

Vietnam War, spawned one of the worst genocides since WWII in Cambodia.

Unlike the previous two genocides, the US opposed Pol Pot; he and the Khmer Rouge

were a result of a failed coup by the US in Cambodia. With Pol Pot in power he and the KR

began labor camps and wanted to create a perfect agrarian society, like the USSR and China.

However, like China and the USSR, famine and disease ravaged the workers in the camps. Those

unable to work were killed as they were viewed as opposition to the KR. Killing fields were

infamous along the Cambodian countryside where the KR would take non-workers and accused

to die. Vietnamese citizens and refugees from Vietnam were targeted as well, stemming from the

war and French rule. The rule of the KR and Pol Pot were ended by a Vietnam invasion of

Cambodia in 1979. The US and western world remained quiet during the genocide. The Vietnam

War was a massive failure by the US and with Cambodia being along the border of Vietnam and

occurring right after the war, led the US to deem in not in their best interest to step in. Perhaps if

it occurred in a non-Southeast Asian country and not right after the Vietnam War it wouldve

been stopped by the US or the west.

One hundred days is all it took for the Rwandan genocide to claim around 1,174,000

lives. All while the international community stood and watched idly by. In Rwanda, the Hutus
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rose in great numbers to kill the Tutsis. Both sides have had hatred towards the other since the

colonization of Rwanda by Belgium in which Belgium rulers put in place laws granting Tutsis

higher status among the majority Hutus. The colonizers also put in place ID cards stating what

ethnicity one was part of letting the perpetrators single out Tutsis easily. Radio stations of Hutu

radicals incited the genocides after Rwandan President Habyarimanas plane was shot down. The

stations stated the RPF (Tutsi rebels) were responsible for shooting the Hutu presidents plane

down, leading to an uprising of ordinary citizens and military to raid Tutsi homes and rape and

kill those found.

The US sat idly by under the Clinton administration. In Somalia, it faced a nightmare

already where several US soldiers died and multiple helicopters were shot down. With that it did

not want to have a reoccurrence. The US and UN did not use the term genocide, for it would

have made the UN legally act on the genocide. Instead the UN removed almost all its troops and

countries evacuated only its citizens out of Rwanda. Troops that were stationed there were told to

only observe and not interfere, essentially useless. Only until the RPF invaded Rwanda did the

genocide end. Once humanitarian aid arrived at refugee camps it was serving not only the

innocents, but the thousands of citizens that took part in the killings. Had the peacekeeping effort

in Somalia not failed, the Rwanda genocide may have not occurred.

In conclusion, the US is seen by some as the world police and we are the good guys in

most wars and conflicts around the world. Currently the US seems on the fence with how they

want to handle Syrian president Al-Assad and genocidal acts he has committed on his own
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people. However, if history repeats itself we will do whats in our own best interests and not of

those being afflicted by tyrants around the world.

Sources
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Michaels, Samantha. "It's Been 50 Years Since the Biggest US-Backed Genocide You've Never

Heard Of." Mother Jones. N.p., 1 Oct. 2015. Web. 24 Mar. 2017.

<http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/09/its-been-50-years-biggest-us-backed-

genocide-youve-never-heard>.

"Genocide in Guatemala." Holocaust Museum Houston. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2017.

<https://www.hmh.org/la_Genocide_Guatemala.shtml>.

Cox, John M. To Kill a People: Genocide in the Twentieth Century. New York: Oxford UP, 2017.

Print.