(*Source of the image)Gore Vidal famously calls the USA the "United States of Amnesia." Today's piece on Africa's troubles is exactly the kind of reporting that allows US citizens to coast along with huge gaps in their historical knowledge and--more significantly--their recognition of what states should be held accountable. I commented on this lack of coverage in a previous post on Oto Benga of the Congo. Today's NPR report is more ambitious and therefore even more frustrating. Jason Beaubien touches on the horrors of war in the Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Somilia, and the Sudan but there is never discussion of the US flood of weaponry and military assistance to the Congo or the wider region. That is a shame because it this is an pattern of US foreign policy against which an informed/mobilized public could act to demand change. It also might help people understand why real debt relief and non-military assistance is a moral obligation and not just optional charity.
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