'Never Again' and Meaning It This Time

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The cry, 'never again' that arose out of the ashes of the Nazi Holocaust may trigger a deep sense of guilt as we look on helplessly at the genocides and mass killings in Cambodia, Rwanda, Tibet, the Congo, former Yugoslavia, and most recently in the Darfur region of Sudan. Now, to become more responsive and proactive to the emerging threat of a future genocide, a new task force has been convened.

Co-chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Secretary of Defense William Cohen, the "Genocide Prevention Task Force" will generate practical recommendations to enable the U.S. government to respond more effectively to emerging threats of genocide and mass atrocities.

Speaking at the National Press Club, November 13, Secretary Albright and Secretary Cohen want to see a more systematic and informed approach to how mass killings and genocide are handled by the U.S. government than the rather ad hoc way it is being handled now.

"We are convinced that the U.S. government can and must do better in preventing genocide—a crime that threatens not only our values but our national interests," said Secretary Cohen.

Their case is that the U.S. should be smarter on dealing with this subject where our record of prevention has been less than stellar.

"The world agrees that genocide is unacceptable and yet genocide and mass killings continue. Our challenge is to match words to deeds and stop the unacceptable," said Secretary Albright.

While many of our efforts to prevent mass killings and rape, such as occurring now in the Sudan, are based on the best of intentions, Albright and Cohen expressed a certain disappointment that we haven't lived up better to our ideals.

"[Preventing genocide], simple on the surface, is in fact one of the most persistent puzzles of our times. We have a duty to find the answer before the vow of 'never again' is once again betrayed," said Secretary Albright.

Former Secretary of State Albright and former Secretary of Defense Cohen built a congenial working relationship in the past when both served in the Clinton Administration. President Clinton reached across party lines and selected William Cohen, who had been a Republican senator from Maine, to head the Defense Department. The respective co-chairs' party affiliations help make the Task Force nonpartisan. At this news conference, Secretary Cohen praised Albright for taking the lead in preventing genocide in Kosovo, when she was Secretary of State.

Three organizations are providing the umbrella for this enterprise: American Academy of Diplomacy, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the United States Institute of Peace.

The Academy was founded in 1983 by Ambassadors Ellsworth Bunker, U. Alexis Johnson, and John J. McCloy to promote high standards in American diplomacy (see www.academyofdiplomacy.org). The "Holocaust" museum is a national memorial to the Nazi Holocaust that promotes education on preventing genocide (see www.ushmm.org). The United States Institute of Peace is a nonpartisan, national institution that helps prevent and resolve violent conflicts and provides knowledge and resources to others to build peace around the globe (see www.usip.org). The latter two institutions receive some federal funding.

From these organizations and elsewhere, the task force will draw upon the "talents of well respected policy leaders and former officials," said Ambassador Brandon Grove, who is the Executive Director of the Genocide Prevention Task Force. The Task Force includes some well-known former elected or appointed officials, such as Senators John Danforth and Tom Daschle, and Bush lead speech writer Michael Gerson, Secretary Dan Glickman, Secretary Jack Kemp, and United Nations Ambassador Tom Pickering, to name a few.

The project is privately funded by Humanity United.

Operational Blueprint to Prevent the Next Genocide

It may be hard to see the value-added that this task force will bring towards making a difference in U.S. foreign policy, when the latter already stands for the principles of civil law, respect for minority rights, and opposes mass killings. The difference is that this task force will develop a plan of action to assess the potential of a genocide and how intervention, diplomatically and perhaps militarily, can best be carried out.

Secretary Cohen explained that "the Commission" (Cohen uses the term "Commission" interchangeably with "the Task Force") will "build together a practical framework to help the U.S. government to be proactive in preventing genocide and mass atrocities. This is the first ever [effort] to develop an operational blueprint for preventing and responding to genocide and mass atrocities," said Secretary Cohen.

The Task Force is organized into five working groups: (1) Early warning system (2) Pre-crisis engagement (3) Preventive diplomacy (4) Military intervention (5) International institutions. The hope is that the task force will have a document finished by December 2008 in time for the next administration.

The difficulties that may lie ahead for this new task force or "commission" were plainly evident from some questions put forth at this news conference by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA): "How do you reconcile your work in trying to build a moral American consensus on genocide when very recently each of you signed letters urging [the House to reject the recognition of] the Armenian genocide?"

The questioner was referring to a letter to the House on September 25, signed by eight previous Secretaries of State, including Madeleine Albright, and a similar letter on September 7, signed by three previous Secretaries of Defense, including Secretary William Cohen.

Both letters urged the House not to pass the resolution calling the mass killings of Armenians a genocide. The Secretaries of State letter said that Turkey cutting off U.S access to Turkish airspace, military bases, and the border crossing with Iraq "could endanger our national security interests in the region, including our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan…" However, neither letter denies genocide took place. The letter from former Secretaries of State "urge the Turkish government to reexamine its history," while the former Secretary of Defense letter mentioned the "most terrible of tragedies took place as the Ottoman Empire disintegrated [in 1915-1923]."

Secretary Albright's answer to the alleged Armenian genocide was to say it was better to have a forward looking approach and that the task force work is about preventing genocide and mass killings in the future.

Secretary Cohen appeared to be more willing to admit that the decision of not recognizing the Armenian genocide was about timing, and practical matters of "placing our sons and daughters in greater risk." He stated, "There are no absolutes in this action," and "multiple factors have to be taken into account" in matters like this.

Their answers did not satisfy the ANCA. Aram Hamparian, executive director of ANCA, paraphrased Eli Wiesel (Holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate), who said the "denial of genocide" is the "final stage" of the genocide. Elaborating on what this means, Wiesel, an Auschwitz survivor, said that the denial of genocide slays the dignity of the survivors—a double killing—by destroying the remembrance of the crime (Emory Magazine, autumn 2000).

But Cohen again responded with the same words: "There are no absolutes."

"We can't look back… From this point forward, what do we do?... How do we generate the will to action in a society that has been unwilling to do so in the past," Cohen asked rhetorically. Cohen expressed the hope that the Commission would provide a set of principles that will be a guide for the U.S. to take the lead—not unilateral action—to shape public opinion domestically and internationally.