Clinton puts Congo rapists on notice (''evil in its basest form'')

[denem]

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, came face to face with the consequences of brutality in eastern Congo when she met a Congolese woman who had been gang-raped while she was eight months pregnant.

The foetus died, Mrs Clinton said, the woman was gravely injured and since there was no hospital nearby, villagers stuffed the woman's wound with grass to keep her from bleeding to death.

''I've been in a lot of very difficult and terrible settings,'' Mrs Clinton said later. ''And I was just overwhelmed by what I saw.''

''It is almost impossible to describe the level of suffering,'' she said. Congo's rape epidemic, was ''just horrific.''

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/clinton-puts-congo-rapists-on-notice-20090812-eifu.html

---

Visiting a Congolese war zone, SoS Clinton announced a range of measures of some help: Building refuges, training doctors, police, especially female police , and providing video cameras to collect evidence. Little will improve IMO until the war subsides. At that time some war criminals MAY be brought to justice.

[ensho]

1. at last someone with power cares

nt

[denem]

2. Care? I'm appalled but "on notice"?

Rape IS a war crime, and few war criminals ever are brought to justice,

[DRex]

3. This is such an important mission...

and one I'm glad to see the SoS taking on. It disappointed me so much to see that the coverage of this trip in the MSM focused entirely on her unfortunate exchange with the mistranslated student asking about Obama's opinion. Not because she came off badly, I think her response was just as it should have been, unfortunately the translation was not.

No, this is disappointing because the media is so sensationalist and capricious. Here we have the most horrifying acts of abuse and hatred imaginable and they want to talk about Hillary's snappy reaction to a mistranslated question. CNN has the same standard for content as TMZ, reality tv, and supermarket gossip mags.

Good on Ms. Clinton for at least trying to draw more attention to this, and trying to introduce some measures to stop these atrocities. If anything can destroy your faith in humanity, it's the stories these poor women and girls tell. Horrific.

[Strong Atheist]

4. Recommended. It would be nice if, for once, more than lip service ends up

being given to both Africa and womens rights...

[FarCenter]

5. Nothing will be done

The root of the problem is overpopulation.

On both sides of the Congo border with Burundi, Ruwanda, and Uganda from Lake Tanganyika to the Sudanese border, you have a area of 100 to 250 people per square mile that is subsisting on primitive agriculture.

This has essentially led to a collapse of society in the area.

See Jared Diamond's book "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" for a discussion of the Rwandan genocide.

See also http://www.bestcountryreports.com/Population_Map_Congo,%20Dem.%20Rep.%20of.html for a map of Congo population densities.

[denem]

6. I reject 'nothing can be done' about mass rape.

Yes, I know you said 'nothing will be done', because it's about overpopulation. That's the same argument that has been used to do nothing about poverty.

[Ignis]

7. Not sure I agree on the root cause, but I second reading _Collapse_.

It's an amazing book, isn't it? I've loved his previous works, but this one really hit home the ideas of "adaptive traits" and the relation of a culture to its environment.

It also gave me a new-found respect for the importance of trees. :)

[WriteDown]

9. That's a little disingenous..

Its not so much over-population as much as unequal distibution, and yet other places such as Manhattan, LA, Chicago do not have similar problems.

[Ignis]

8. This is great work, SoS Clinton. Keep it up!

Just a few years ago, the US would be issuing a statement condemning any abortions that might have resulted from these rapes.

:banghead:

[Control-Z]

14. Just one year ago - 7 months ago even

Ain't it great? And if anyone can offer hope to these women, it is SOS Clinton.

[SIMPLYB1980]

10. Canceled out someones unrecommend.

K&R

[Odin2005]

12. Whoever is un-rec-ing thing thread is an evil bastard.

[Control-Z]

15. That reminds me

I need to rec this, and the bastard who unrec'd it has made it an even bigger pleasure to do.

[Odin2005]

11. Good. IMO the rapists should be executed.

[JonQ]

13. Right words, but meaningless

Really they need to start finding these people and executing them.

Their culture is entirely too lenient on this issue and a few (thousand) heads on poles may make a substantial change in that.

Don't try to cure them, or rehabilitate, whatever you want to call it. They are too far gone to rediscover their humanity. Put them down, like a rabid dog.

[Odin2005]

16. "Put them down like a rabid dog" +1

[Mz Pip]

18. Pretty much my feeling

We can speak out against this. We can have our SOS speak out against this but those who perpetrate these crimes aren't going to give a shit unless they are faced with serious prosecution.

Honestly, they aren't going to give a rat's ass about what Hillary Clinton says.

[Wednesdays]

17. K&R

:kick: