US GRANDEES LAUNCH MISSION TO AVERT NEW GENOCIDES

Agence France Presse
Nov 13 2007

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US political grandees including former secretary
of state Madeleine Albright announced Tuesday the launch of a new task
force to help the United States prevent genocide and mass atrocities.

Co-chaired by Albright and former defense secretary William Cohen,
the task force plans to issue a report in December 2008 to help the
next US administration find diplomatic and military means to avert
future genocides.

But at a news conference, Albright and Cohen were pressed on their
stance today that Armenians were not victims of genocide under the
Ottoman Empire, while Albright was also reminded of US inaction in
Rwanda in 1994.

"Our challenge is to match words to deeds and stop allowing the
unacceptable," said Albright, who was US ambassador to the United
Nations in 1994 before becoming secretary of state under president
Bill Clinton.

"We have a duty to find the answer before the vow of ‘never again’
is once again betrayed," she said.

The new task force includes retired Marine General Anthony Zinni, two
ex-senators, former US cabinet members and other formerly high-ranking
government officials now in the private sector.

Its executive director, former career diplomat Brandon Grove, said the
team would look at five areas of action: early warning; pre-crisis
engagement; preventive diplomacy; international institutions; and
military intervention.

Albright has spoken of her regret that the Clinton administration
and UN did not do more to avert the carnage against ethnic Tutsis
in Rwanda, but said the task force would focus on a future template
for action.

Citing ongoing events in Darfur, however, she said the impetus for
the mission was "frustration: we all say this can’t happen again and
then in front of us, things are happening."

The US administration of President George W. Bush has described the
mass slaughter taking place in the Sudanese region as "genocide,"
but stands criticized for not doing more to intervene.

Cohen, a Republican who was Pentagon chief in Clinton’s second term,
said: "Let’s face it: Rwanda was not exactly a high mark in our
country’s history.

"We don’t want to see that take place again in the future, so the goal
of the task force is to set forth a document and a set of principles
that can then be used by future policymakers," he said.

However, both Albright and Cohen were grilled on their credentials
given that they recently signed letters urging Democrats in the House
of Representatives against endorsing an Armenia "genocide" resolution.

Turkey had threatened reprisals affecting its "war on terror"
cooperation with the United States if the resolution were upheld,
and Cohen said that any Pentagon head would have to fret over the
impact on US troops "in harm’s way."