Every administration aims for something close to complete control over the nation's foreign policy. The idea is that the United States, while open to debating disparate views at home, should speak clearly with one voice when it comes to dealing with other countries. But that principle is frequently challenged as lawmakers, former officials, and assorted VIPs step into the role of roving freelance diplomat–and enjoy the fruits of being actors on the global stage.
Mutobo, Rwanda—Ezekiel Nzamwita fidgets awkwardly in a ratty T-shirt and baggy jacket. The onetime primary-school teacher is still getting used to civilian garb after spending a decade in prison-issue pink jumpsuits. "Ten years is a long time," he says, "but things have become better." A confessed killer, Nzamwita is one of about 8,000 genocide suspects released in February from Rwanda's overcrowded prisons as part of a national reconciliation effort after the 1994 bloodletting that claimed a million lives. The 51-year-old Hutu admitted being part of a group that killed a Tutsi man and stole his cows. Nzamwita won his freedom after asking the victim's brother for forgiveness.
The killing was systematic. It was relentless. It was brutal. The weapon of choice was the machete and, the killers were people's neighbors and colleagues and friends. As many as 1 million Rwandans were killed in just three months during the spring of 1994.
AP - Two American helicopters crashed after an apparent collision Sunday north of Baghdad, killing two soldiers and wounding five others, the U.S. military said.
AP - The Northeast on Saturday braced for a hard-blowing nor'easter that could bring severe coastal flooding, power outages and more than a foot of snow in some places.
AP - A U.S. Marine unit broke international humanitarian law by using excessive force during a shooting spree last month that left 12 people dead, an Afghan human rights group said in a report Saturday.
Two U.S. military helicopters apparently collided and crashed in a rural area on the northern outskirts of Baghdad Sunday morning, killing two U.S. soldiers and injuring five others, according to the U.S. military.