Three Wise Men: Smearing a Hero

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Smearing a Hero

As they say, no good deed goes unpunished, even one that resulted in saving hundreds of lives.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...: “Hotel Rwanda 2 is a sequel I never want to make” Terry George

Hi George,

If you haven’t started setting aside a budget for “Hotel Rwanda 2“ then you are well behind the schedule. The root causes of the recurring rwandan tragedy- namely INJUSTICE and PRIDE - are yet to be dealt with. The Tutsi tribe used to be on the receiving end, and as you read this comment Hutus are now between a rock and a hard place. Even those that didn’t have anything to do with whatever befell that country, be it in the recent or distant past. In fact, currently an innocent Hutu is a dead one. The whole world has now been made to believe that a Hutu is a genocidaire right from his or her mother’s womb !!!. How long will that go on before another tragedy erupts ? Only God can tell.

Let’s wait and see.

Edwin; 5/10/06, 7:27 AM
Anonymous said...: For those of you who might not have been following the events unfolding in that African Great Lakes region, the following letter written by none other than Prof. Peter Erlinder, ICTR Lead Defence Counsel to the Canadian Prime Minister Hon. Stephen Harper is likely to shed some light as to why President Paul Kagame (Current Rwandan President) is out to lead a smear campaign against Mr. Paul Rusesabagina (the real-life hero of the movie "Hotel Rwanda"). It is all about THE REAL TRUTH concerning what actually happened in that country that is about to be known by the whole world. Please read all the way to the last dot.

Hon. Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister
Government of Canada
Ottawa
CANADA

April 6, 2006

Re: OPEN LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER HARPER:
Regarding State Visit of Current President of Rwanda

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

I am writing from the United Nations Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, TZ on this, the 12th Anniversary of the assassination of President Habyarimana of Rwanda, which preceded the terrible massacres that occurred after the April 6 assassination. I have learned that your Government has agreed to host a state visit by the current President of Rwanda, Mr. Paul Kagame. To prevent future embarrassment to you and your Government, and to comply with the ethical principles to which I am bound as an Officer of the Court of the ICTR, I am obligated to bring recent developments at the ICTR to your attention.

By way of background, please note that the March/April 2004 issue of the UK Economist reported on the 10th Anniversary of the horrific events in Rwanda by noting that the Kagame Regime is the most repressive military dictatorship in Africa. At that time, the identity of those who carried out the “assassination by missile” of former President Habyarimana by shooting down the presidential plane on April 6, 1994 (which all agree touched off the massive civilian killings in April-July 1994) was not known.

However, this circumstance changed during the past month at the ICTR which saw multiple witnesses, including: an “Africanist” Belgian Catholic Priest and Historian, who lived in Rwanda for 18 years; former RPF/RPA officers who were either present when the missiles were fired, or present at RPF/RPA Headquarters during 1993-94; as well as, numerous never-before-public UN documents which confirm the following:

1. The RPF/Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) had a 3-4/1 military- force advantage, which was known to then-General Kagame at least as of February 1993 when the RPF/RPA broke the Arusha ceasefire and nearly captured the capital, that the RPF/RPA had the military power to take power in Rwanda at will. It was the 1,000,000-plus displaced, brutalized refugees became an ungovernable force that later engaged in civilian-civilian massacres.

2. Between February 1993 and April 1994, while pretending to negotiate a power-sharing agreement set out in the Arusha Accords, Gen. Kagame openly declared to RPA troops that they should prepare for war and he also threatened war repeatedly when speaking with UN and international delegations in early 1994, as reflected in contemporary UN documents.

3. During this same period, hundreds of tons of weaponry and ammunition were illegally brought into Rwanda in preparation for the final assault to seize power and stored in numerous “weapons caches” around the country.

4. By March 1994, UN documents show that the Rwandan Government Forces (RGF) had been decimated by the four-year war of invasion by elements of the Ugandan military, supported by the Ugandan government and military, and lacked the military capacity to fight an invading army AND use military force to stop civilian massacres by other civilians.

5. The former U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda, Hon. Robert Flaten, testified in June 2005 that he personally warned Gen. Kagame and Pres. Habyarimana that if either resumed war by breaking the Arusha Accords cease fire, they would be responsible for thousands of civilian casualties from retaliatory killings that U.S. State Department documents predicted should the war resume…similar to killings that swept Burundi/Rwanda in 1988.

6. On March 9-10, 2006 and again on April 3-6, 2006 the President of the ICTR heard testimony, with supporting U.N. and other documents, that Gen. Kagame ordered the assassination of President Habyarimana to de-stabilize his enemy, and that he ordered the final assault within minutes after learning of the successful missile attack….long BEFORE any retaliatory, civilian killings had occurred anywhere in Rwanda.

7. The evidence, confirmed in original UN documents, also shows that, between April 6, 1994 and the RPF military victory in mid-July 1994, the Rwandan Government and the RGF repeatedly asked for an unconditional cease-fire to permit its few, battle-hardened troops to use force to stop the massacres. When the RGF stated that it lacked the means to stop the massacres without a ceasefire, UN documents confirmed that this was known to be true by Gen. Dallaire and Gen. Kagame in March 1994, before the assassination of President Habyarimana.

8. Canadian General Dallaire testified in January 2004 that: (a) there were only about 5,000 dependable RGF troops; (b) the first obligation of all armies, including the Canadian Army and the RGF, is to defend the “security of the homeland;” (c) and, it was militarily impossible for the RGF/Gendarmes to fight a war of invasion AND stop long-predicted, retaliatory, civilian-civilian massacres.
9. Between April 1994 and July 1994, the RPF was the only military force in Rwanda which was militarily capable of stopping the massacres, with or without a cease-fire, however, on numerous occasions Gen. Kagame specifically ordered field officers NOT to use troops “to save civilians while RPF soldiers are dying” and, as Gen. Dallaire testified under oath, Gen. Kagame told him that civilian killings as “collateral damage” for his war plan.

10. According to sworn ICTR testimony, Gen. Kagame specifically ordered the creation of particular units responsible for “cleansing” civilians from areas controlled by the RPF and was personally present as tens of thousands of civilians were lured to Byumba Stadium in late April 1994 and massacred by RPF troops under his command, among other atrocities.

11. Much of this information can be found in: The Secret History of Rwanda by former RPF Officer Abdul Joshua Ruzibiza, recently published in Paris; the Report of Serge Desouter to the ICTR, an historian of the Belgian “White Fathers” century-old mission in Rwanda; the public and closed transcripts at the ICTR; and, original UN documents introduced as exhibits in the Military 1 case (Bagasora et al) at the ICTR.

12. In July 2003, then-ICTR Prosecutor Carla del Ponte announced that she had discovered enough evidence to prosecute BOTH sides in the Rwandan War. However, shortly thereafter, Pres. Kagame called for her resignation, as did Colin Powell and Kofi Annan. She was replaced two months later and, to this date, not ONE person associated with Gen. Kagame’s successful seizure of power has been called to account at the ICTR (unlike the ICTY in which leaders associated with all major actors have been indicted).

13. In light of the evidence now in the public record of the Tribunal, a formal Motion is being prepared which requests the President of the Tribunal, and the Office of the Prosecutor, to draft the Indictment of Paul Kagame for Murder, Conspiracy to Commit Murder, various War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity and Conspiracy to commit such crimes, all committed by him, and the troops he commanded in Rwanda in 1994.

14. Motions to dismiss charges presently pending against former RGF Officers for actions properly attributed to the victors of the 1994 RPF War of Accession to Power.

Since the ICTR has not been well-covered in the western media, I have no doubt that you and your advisors have not been made aware of the above before issuing the invitation to the current Rwandan President. However, since this information is already in the public record, and more is being accumulated daily, I could not permit an accused war-criminal, on the same order as the recently arrested former-president Charles Taylor, to receive the endorsement of the Canadian Government, without putting the record straight….and putting the matter before your Government for evaluation.

I would be pleased direct your staff to relevant materials in the public record at the ICTR, if that would be convenient to the Canadian Government.

Respectfully,

Prof. Peter Erlinder, ICTR Lead Defence Counsel
Past-President, National Lawyers Guild, N.Y.C. USA
Wm. Mitchell College of Law
875 Summit Av.
St. Paul, MN 55105
(651) 290-6384
perlinder@wmitchell.edu
U.N. No. (212) 963-2850 (ext. 5073).; 5/10/06, 8:52 AM
Anonymous said...: Mr. George:

It is hard to understand why you feel the public was not duped. Paul Rusesabagina's story has changed many times. To quote your article, "quoted a former receptionist at the hotel as saying that he had saved only his few friends, and that he had charged people to stay in the rooms [a fact we had highlighted and explained in the film]." So you highlighted and explained in the film why money was charged.

I suggest you read Rusesabagina's Autobiography An Ordinary Man. Pay attention to page 108. This is where you will find the newest version of Rusesabagina's ever changing story. "We charged no money for rooms. To take cash away from anyone would be to strip them of money they need to bribe their way out of being murdered," This is only one small verifiable inconsistency of his story.

I also would ask you why you promised money made from the movie to the Umbrella Body of Genocide Survivors Fund but Francois Ngarambe, president of IBUKA, says you never delivered?

Do you really expect anyone to take your word for the quality of your research when all those political people, employees from the hotel, UN soldiers and ordinary people are finally coming forward denouncing Rusesabagina. Anyone can research and map the changes in his story.

You mentioned the radio show, did Rusesabagina tell you he was scheduled to be on that show but only moments before airing he backed out? Why does he not address the allegations? If he is telling the truth he should be able to prove that, so why hide?

As you said, his friends who had remained silent before, now say Rusesabagina's story is not true, could that be because they were friends and did not want to embarrass him by saying you're not telling the truth but now feel the record should be set straight?

Shame on you, Mr. George. Did you write this to save the face of the movie?

The truth of the matter is, a little boy in Arizona wrote a paper for National History Day proving the inconsistencies and the paper took on a life all of it's own. He had many news people with credentials helping him in finding the truth. You ought to get a copy so you can familiarize yourself with the stories of the survivors from within the hotel.; 5/10/06, 3:56 PM
Nat-Wu said...: Well, in short we have seen evidence supporting Mr. Rusesebagina's story, but none supporting the other side. That's not to say that we summarily dismiss any argument to the contrary, but I certainly am not going to accept the word of those who have political reasons to want him discredited. As a matter of fact, there's not even a substantial challenge to the factuality of his story, simply those who are saying that he doesn't deserve all the credit he got.

To try to be fair, if you can find criticism coming from people who know the story, have seen and heard the evidence, and have absolutely no reason to lie, then we can believe something is wrong. Otherwise, it amounts to what we call badmouthing, which is not to be honored.; 5/10/06, 6:43 PM
Anonymous said...: I am not willing to dismiss the stories of survivors just because everyone wants to believe one version.

Examples:

The current radio talk show host that has always maintained Rusesabagina would not allow her into the hotel. She had been sold to the Interhamwe and ran to the hotel with a few other survivors only to be denied entrance. She later found a way in and hid. Her story has never changed.

The young man who found where food and drinks had been hidden in the hotel and began giving them out only to be threatened by Rusesabagina and forced to pay for them. The list goes on.

Average everyday Rwandans, with no political background, Tutsi and Hutu alike, have been telling these types of stories for years but no one listened. These people have nothing to gain from their stories. They just want to be heard. Validated.

Telling their survival stories is not badmouthing Rusesabagina. It is their story. Just as his story belongs to him.

With the survivors and political versions aside, you can revisit Rusesabagina's version through interviews, documentaries, movies and books and witness the growth and changes in his version. To expose this is not smearing Rusesabagina but showing that there are conflicting versions of a story, as there always are.; 5/10/06, 8:04 PM
Nat-Wu said...: Ok, so there are contradicting versions of the story. Makes sense. But how does that reflect badly on Rusesebagina? Unless you credit other stories more than his, that is. And need I remind you that plenty of people have and do back up his version?

Perhaps one must ask the question Mr. George asked, which is why is this happening after Rusesebagina spoke out against President Kagame?; 5/11/06, 1:15 AM
Anonymous said...: “13. In light of the evidence now in the public record of the Tribunal, a formal Motion is being prepared which requests the President of the Tribunal, and the Office of the Prosecutor, to draft the Indictment of Paul Kagame for Murder, Conspiracy to Commit Murder, various War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity and Conspiracy to commit such crimes, all committed by him, and the troops he commanded in Rwanda in 1994.” Hon. Stephen Harper to the Canadian Prime Minister

If this statement from one of the comments I’ve just read hereabove is true, then I fully understand why Paul Kagame (the President of the Republic of Rwanda) wants Paul Rusesabagina (the hero of the movie "Hotel Rwanda”) smeared to the bone.

We have all along been duped to believe that Paul Kagame (the President of the Republic of Rwanda) is the real hero. Now evidence is coming out that instead he is as filthy as a devil. In fact I have always been wondering how a man who used to be nicknamed Ponce Pilate due to his atrocities when he was the chief of the Ugandan military intelligence, all of the sudden became a Christ like “Savior” just because he crossed the border to rule the unfortunate Rwanda. Now masks are about to fall off his face and everybody is about to know who this guy has always been. This I believe is the reason why he has to make sure that nobody else emerges out of the Rwandan tragedy as clean as Paul Rusesabagina has been.

Karl , Sweden; 5/11/06, 7:09 AM
Anonymous said...: 1. The only people who confirmed his story were rumored to have been paid to do so during the making of Hotel Rwanda.

2. He has never been able to keep the story straight thus making himself to look like a liar.

3. He tours the US and Canada collecting money based on his version but refuses and is not obligated to show where he is giving the money. [ he has not even been given tax exempt status]

You would be hard pressed to find one person in Rwanda to confirm the story. A UN peace officer said when speaking of Rusesabagina, "Adverting our eyes from the truth because it is personally or politically awkward is bad for our collective conscience." He went on to say that many of Rusesabagina's claims did in fact happen but Rusesabagina was not the hero. There were many people within the hotel who did many things and Rusesabagina claimed the stories as his own. Which common sense says is probably the truth. I can't imagine a bunch of men in a hotel doing nothing while only one works toward the goal of survival.

Rusesabagina said himself, " ... Spice was added to the story." The spice now turns out to be the bulk of the story and the meat of it are the survivors whose stories got lost as we manufactured a hero.

Now getting back to what probably started this, that little boy in Arizona. This little boy last year was given a National History Day project. He chose Rusesabagina because he was a hero. The theme was taking a stand in history. Before the articles in the paper denouncing Rusesabagina.

The boy searched but could only find Rusesabagina's version. Thinking that was odd he contacted Kigali newspapers and enlisted them to help. The New Times specifically. The journalists were only to happy to help and were impressed with the boy's desire to learn about the history of Rwanda.

The kid sent them on interviews with questions in hand. This went on for many months. The journalists started realizing what Rusesabagina had and had not done and began reporting it. This was a huge story for them finally coming to light.

The only thing the paper did was help a boy investigate and reported the story as it unfolded. They did go on to interview politicals about the issue and an interview with Rusesabagina was set up so he could address the allegations. He never followed through. In fact minutes before airing he disappeared.

In retaliation, Rusesabagina began speaking out against them and now this article.

Exposing the truth is not smearing a hero but bringing the truth to light.; 5/11/06, 9:00 AM
Nat-Wu said...: Who are you, and why do you keep writing the same thing? You can't provide any evidence. Even if you believe the other side has no evidence, that means you're in a draw, so quit wasting space on our blog.; 5/11/06, 12:28 PM
Anonymous said...: I am just an average person who clicked on the link beside the story on the Post's website. I had believed it was the Post's blog conversation but I was mistaken. After I realized my error, I decided to continue the conversation as I found it interesting. I apologize for wasting your space. You could certainly delete the entries to recover lost space.

By making this political takes the focus off the mistruths and I believe that to be one of the reasons the focus is being placed on political aspects as the survivors are begining to surface and be heard. When speaking of Rusesabagina, I try never to let it go the political route. Debate on political issues will bury the original topic of the conflicting stories of the hotel. I, apparently mistakenly, tried to bring the attention back to the survivors.

I apologize for misunderstanding what route you wanted to take the conversation. I certainly never meant to be view as someone who was only wasting space.; 5/11/06, 1:41 PM
Nat-Wu said...: First of all, you can't talk about this without acknowledging the likelihood of a smear campaign caused by President Kagame because Rusesabagina has spoken against him. Given that Rwanda is one of the African countries with a history of abuse and corruption, it's not unlikely that the government could coerce or entice people who formerly supported Rusesebagina to denounce him now. You merely choose to overlook this aspect, which does not mean you're making a fair and unbiased examination; as a matter of fact, it means precisely the opposite.

Second, even if some people do disagree with the account that was somewhat given in Hotel Rwanda, there are other people who do agree with it. You choosing to identify with the side of those who are denouncing it does not lend it more credence than the other story, so while you can certainly say there are those who deny Rusesabagina's version of the story, that fact alone does not call his account into question.

If you believe that human hypocrisy extends to the point that a man would crassly make a profit off of genocide survivors by telling a lie (when he was a survivor himself, remember), you must believe then that it's possible for people to lie for money. Oh, and guess what, Kagame has both money and men with guns, so pardon me if I look dubiously upon the statements of people who are attacking Rusesabagina.

And finally, lest your argument seem to have some vestige of credibility, let's just remember again that's it not just the cast and crew of Hotel Rwanda who support Rusesabagina's story; it's most of the people who were there. If, for whatever reason, you want to claim that they're all lying, you go ahead and do that, but when you do that, you'll just be admitting that you have an agenda which isn't what you say it is.

And if this conversation has given anyone the impression that there actually are credible flaws in Rusesabagina's story, there aren't. Nobody besides some people who are probably pawns of the Kagame dictatorship are denouncing it. Unlike "anonymous" we choose to take such attacks with a grain of salt.; 5/12/06, 10:39 AM
Anonymous said...: The truth will one day come out!
Paul Kagame, the number one genocidaire in living memory, has started to show his true colours. He killed more than 2.5 million Rwandans and more than 5 million Congolese. Despite all this, he is received in palaces around the world by kings, queens, presidents and prime ministers. He has managed to convince his sponsors that he is a hero,saviour of Rwandans. How naive they are!
Now Paul Kagame starts another smear campaign against Paul Rusesabagina, a real hero in the Rwandan tragedy, the world should open its eyes and see that whatever Kagame says is lies, lies, and only lies, destined to undermine as genocidaire anyone who does not sing in his tune and share his ideology.; 5/14/06, 5:29 PM
Anonymous said...: Please keep the discussion alive and provide specific url for any claim and or counterclaim cited in your pieces so that neutrals can read for themselves.; 9/28/06, 6:46 AM