Military Review English Edition November-December 2014 | Page 129

GENOCIDE

speculate regarding whether different policy models
would have been feasible or possibly more successful at
reducing suffering if aid had begun immediately at the
onset of a crisis.
While meticulously researched and detailed,
Pomakoy stretches his conclusions to their limit. His
original thesis was that humanitarian aid did occur,
which he proves time and time again. However, he
stretches his findings to argue that private humanitarian aid was the start of U.S. foreign policy regarding
providing aid.
In reality, from the evidence provided in the book,
the humanitarian relief provided prior to U.S. military intervention originated from private concerns
and appears rather to indicate an abrogation of what
many would have considered an official humanitarian
relief responsibility. Moreover, his discussion of the
philanthropic model relies heavily on early versions of
nongovernmental organizations. This appears untenable as nongovernmental entities do not write and
carry out foreign policy. This critique of Pomakoy’s
contentions is echoed in Richard Brietman’s review;
he laments that Pomakoy did not stop his analysis
with merely proving aid occurred.1
Additionally, Pomakoy’s account flattens incidents
of atrocities to short, almost clinical, discussions. This
minimizes the true horrors of genocide and lulls the
reader into believing that privately funded food and
other resource-based aid was sufficient to meet civilian
needs and end their suffering when many other impediments and interests apart from mere lack of food were
contributing to the perilous situation of the civilians
affected.
Despite weaknesses, Pomakoy’s approach allows
for a more policy-centered discussion and invites the
conclusions that foreign policy begins with combined
philanthropic aid and diplomatic efforts, and ends with
military intervention only when absolutely necessary.
Unfortunately, the basis for Pomakoy’s arguments
rest largely on the premise that his example of Cuba
was actually a Spanish government-sponsored attempt at genocide in the same category as the others
studied. Oddly, by the V