Rwanda's tragic hero named to Canadian Senate

Romeo Dallaire, best known as the head of the UN force for Rwanda in 1993-1994, has been named by PM Paul Martin as the new Canadian Senator for Quebec. The appointment marks the apex of Dallaire's return from personal oblivion. I am a huge fan of the general and I think someday history will remember him as a great humanitarian and a great spokesman for peace and the folly of war and genocide. Dallaire was the lone herald in the run up to the massacre. He tried desperately to make the world hear and see the horror of the Rwandan genocide. In the end, with only a handful of poorly equiped peacekeepers, the tide of murder and hate washed over him as it did the people he could not save. He returned to Canada, broken and ashamed. He climbed into a bottle and waited to die. But Romeo Dallaire was made of stronger stuff. With the help of his family and intensive counciling, he found his voice. In 2004, he released "Shake Hands with the Devil" , an account of the horror of genocide and the indifference of the outside world. His is a voice of morality and humanity, and he should be honored for his service and his sacrifice.