Auschwitz Redux? In Word Only

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Analogies are spun often during war, especially when the costs are high and domestic support is crucial. President Bush cast Saddam Hussein as Hitler at the beginning of the Gulf crisis in 1990, just when he was trying to build support for a massive troop deployment to protect Kuwait.

More interesting is why the West does nothing even when it calls a spade a spade. During the Hutus' mass slaughter of Rwanda's Tutsis in 1994, the West rightly called it genocide but stood pat. With Africa of less strategic value in the Cold War era, conflicts there rarely shine brightly on the Western radar screen. While we may feel less famliar with African cultures, our historical connection to the white, European victims in the Kosovo conflict has undoubtedly been a factor in America's involvement, says Dowell.

Furthermore, the Balkans are a tinderbox that if left unchecked can detonate into catastrophe. Yugoslavia's neighbors have delicate ethnic mixes, weak central governments and beleaguered economies. The threat of spillover is real. More powerful players with Balkan interests, such as Turkey and Greece, could be sucked into a larger conflagration, threatening stability not only in southeastern Europe but along the cusp of the Middle East. Stanching the Serbian onslaught and the refugee tide is part and parcel of a larger geopolitical concern.

But it behooves us and our leaders to tell it like it is, not only for honesty's sake, but for history's. Is Milosevic an ethnic cleanser? Yes. A war criminal? Almost certainly. A genocidal monster? His actions, and history, will decide that.