Tribnet.com
Saturday, April 10, 2004
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM: Officials defend display referring to
U.S. ‘genocide’ The Associated Press
A display praising the merits of peacekeeping that cited the killing
of native North Americans as the world’s worst genocide shouldn’t be
considered a jab at the United States, Belgian defense officials said
Thursday.
The display, shown at the monument of the Unknown Soldier in Brussels
this week, was meant to honor Belgian soldiers who died in
humanitarian missions.
It included a panel listing North America as having the world’s worst
genocide with a death toll of 15 million, starting with Columbus’ 1492
arrival in the New World but giving no end date.
The daily De Standaard called the display insulting to Washington.
The newspaper complained about a list of genocides that mentioned Nazi
Germany, Rwanda, Cambodia, Armenia and other countries – but ignored
killings in the Stalin’s Soviet Union and Europe’s colonial past,
including the Belgian Congo.
(Published 1:00AM, April 9th, 2004)