Compare And Contrast Rwanda And Isis

There have been many genocides in history, but none have had more controversial views than Rwanda or ISIS. The United States government did not intervene in Rwanda or in ISIS to the extent that was needed. The death count kept rising while the US turned their backs to what was happening, and what is happening now. The genocides committed both in Rwanda, and by ISIS, have remarkable similarities and differences in the actions taken by the United States government to contain and prevent any further killings, whether directly or indirectly.

During the Rwandan genocides the United States did little to stop the senseless murders and only spoke out after hundreds of thousands of people were killed. The genocide started when the Hutu president was shot down in his plane on April 6, 1944. Tensions were growing between the Hutu and the Tutsi for many years and the death of the president set off a war. The Hutu started to slaughter any person who was Tutsi or was suspected of having relationships with them. During the next three months the Hutu murdered around 1 million Tutsi using mainly machetes. They would recruit as many people as they could to help with the extermination by handing out thousands of machetes in public gatherings for cheap and efficient

slaughter. In the first few weeks the only involvement from the US was to help evacuate American citizens and then left when the killings intensified. With the governments of the US, France, and the United Nations not intervening it was up to the Rwandan Patriotic Front, or RPF, to stop the slaughter. Towards the end, however, the US did get involved by urging the UN to take action so they didn’t have to act directly in Rwanda. This was a huge disgrace in many people’s opinions from around the world.
The US response to ISIS has also been a major point of controversy. In the early 2000s the terrorist group was just coming to life in the branches of al-Qaeda. After extreme radical ideas, and wanting to expand further than Iraq, al-Qaeda expelled ISIS in 2014. The number of members keep growing in numbers from all over the world. They have reached around 17,000 people, including some from the US and UK. One of the reasons why ISIS has been so deadly is the amount of funds they have at their expense. There are reports that the wealth of the group is approximately $2 billion. The more powerful they grow the more crimes they commit. ISIS has been accused of genocide under the circumstances of raping and killing woman, children, and anyone else who does not convert or follow their law. When these killings began the US did nothing to stop it. Only after the threat moved to more countries and the United States became a target did the decide to take action. First it was diplomatic solutions that changed into bombings and airstrikes. The involvement by the US is not something to be proud of in the beginning, but they are starting to get more and more involved as time went on.
These two incidences of genocide in Rwanda and from the terror group ISIS have both been an embarrassing time for the US in the eyes of the world.

The United States sees themselves as the protectors of freedom and the world police. During these genocides the US waited as long as possible before intervening. In both situations the United states acted when there was a threat to the US directly. In Rwanda the United States evacuated all American citizens in the first weeks of the genocide and then pulled all the soldiers out. When the threat of ISIS came up the US did not address it until they were a direct threat. In both cases, however, the longer the attacks went on, the more the US tried to come up with a

response.
There is only one major difference between the United States responses to Rwanda and to ISIS. This difference is the actions taken to stop the genocides. In Rwanda the US took very indirect measures to over time to stop the Hutu from killing the Tutsi. Diplomats from the US did what they could to convince the UN to send in troops to help. Even though none of the troops were from the US, they still made an impact in getting the RPF to fight back. The US was a lot more direct with the threat from ISIS. When ISIS threatened the US, the military starting dropping bombs and carrying out airstrikes on the enemies bases. Although no troops are being sent to directly attack the terrorists of ISIS, the US has still been more direct than they were when facing the threat in Rwanda.
The genocides in Rwanda, as well as the genocides being carried out by ISIS, are two occasions that the US can not afford to turn their backs on. In both instances the US did not want to act in the beginning. The more people that were killed the more the government saw that it was necessary to do something to stop it. The difference between these two cases was a matter of if the US acted directly or indirectly, but these genocides have been, and are being, addressed and hopefully it will not be repeated a third time further in the future.