Foreign Policy Debate? Let’s Check In On Obama’s ‘Atrocities Prevention Board’
The Atrocities Prevention Board did meet that day, April 23. Samantha Power moderated a panel discussion. Valerie Jarrett spoke. Maria Otero (her title: “Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights”) remarked:
The president directed the first-ever comprehensive study of the U.S. government’s atrocity-prevention capabilities.
She added, pragmatically:
The launch of the Atrocities Prevention Board is an important step but it is just the beginning of the hard work. Just because we have organized ourselves better to prevent and respond to atrocities does not mean that atrocities will not continue to happen.
Indeed.
Otero introduced the other panelists, each of whom held a uniquely bureaucratic, inscrutable title: Assistant Secretary of State for Conflict and Stabilization Operations Rick Barton; Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice Stephen Rapp; and Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Organization Affairs Esther Brimmer.
Following the April 23 rollout, remarkably few mentions of the Atrocity Prevention Board or its activities have appeared — not in the media, on federal websites, or via PR release.
A U.S. Army release mentioned that, on June 12 and 13, the U.S. Institute of Peace held:
… a military and civilian table-top exercise (TTX) that focused on Mass Atrocity Response Operations (MAPRO) … two days prior to the first meeting of the Atrocity Prevention Board (APB).
…
Participants worked together to develop response strategies for III Corps to execute on the simulated battlefield of Atropia during the recent Warfighter exercise.
Hmmm. More:
MCTP plans to host future TTX’s with other relevant topics such as human trafficking, food security and gender-based violence.
Excellent. PJ Media has been unable to find any mention of the Board actually meeting two days after this exercise, as stated above.
On July 23 and 24, the Holocaust Museum, the Council on Foreign Relations’ Center for Preventive Action, and CNN(!) held a conference titled: “Imagining the Unimaginable: Ending Genocide in the 21st Century.” Hillary Clinton spoke, acknowledging the skepticism with which the Atrocities Prevention Board had been greeted:
We’re putting our elements of this strategy — prevention and partnership — into action through the Atrocities Prevention Board that President Obama announced here. Now, it might not be obvious that creating yet another government board will address a problem as entrenched as this. But the fact is a body such as this can drive the kinds of institutional changes that we envision.
The following day, Chairman of the National Intelligence Council Chris Kojm spoke, mentioning the Atrocities Prevention Board:
We can identify factors — we often refer to them as drivers — that over time can lead to increased risk. We believe that monitoring atrocities drivers will enable Secretary Clinton and the Atrocities Prevention Board to more closely monitor risks and develop initiatives to address root causes earlier — and break a cycle that could lead to the unimaginable.
Just curious: how does Fast & Furious fit into the Atrocities Board strategy?
It never fails to astonish me how governments can support two contradictory ideas at the same time, like banning smoking while collecting billions in tobacco taxes and spending other billions on treating tobacco-related diseases and subsidies to tobacco farmers. (Those are just the first examples that come to mind, not the start of a rant for or against tobacco.)
Ladies and gents – leading from behind takes on new meaning, now that an ‘atrocities board’ has been created.
Never mind that real atrocities have risen exponentially, under the ‘watchful’ eyes of The One. In fact, his delicate, female surrogates ( Samantha via her R2P; and Valerie via her conferring with an actual INTERPOL felon in Iran, who happens to be an old family friend of the Jarrett’s from their days in Iran; jaw jawing at the behest of the Islamist-in-Chief, only to garner assurances from the mullahs to temporarily halt their killing program)are awash in so much blood, their actions would lead regular folks to jail cells for several lifetimes.
But no matter. The Thug-in-Chief created a ‘Board’. More to the point, how about those who have died at the hands of his Racialist AG, you know, the guy who oversaw gun running, via shipments of weapons to drug cartels where hundreds of innocents have died in Mexico, let alone agents guarding U.S. borders?
Again, not a problem, just gum under their shoes. However, there are some real human rights advocates who admire The One – http://adinakutnicki.com/2012/10/22/world-leaders-openly-endorsing-the-radical-in-chief-are-the-most-vile-dregs-in-the-international-arena-why-are-they-simpatico-to-dear-leader-commentary-by-adina-kutnicki/, and this is why they are endorsing him for a second term.
How delightful. Surely, they too have their ‘Boards’.
Let’s assume for the moment that this is on the up-and-up. I know. Still, if I were to assume this info is “good” then I have to ask, what do they know that I do not?
Look at the titles! “Atrocities Prevention Board”. “Assistant Secretary of State for Conflict and Stabilization Operations”. “Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice”. “Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Organization Affairs”.
I don’t know about you, folks, but those titles scare the crap outta me. Seriously. Look at what they’re hinting at: a global criminal justice system as a cog in an organized international bureaucracy that reports to the executive branch. Again, this time with the appropriate title in square brackets, “[ ]“:
A global criminal justice system [Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice"] as a cog in an organized international bureaucracy [Bureau of International Organization Affairs] that takes orders from the executive branch [Assistant Secretary of State for Conflict and Stabilization Operations. All in some weird way contributing to an effort to prevent some kind of global atrocity [Atrocities Prevention Board]. And, presumably, skipping any Congressional oversight.
Hillary Clinton: “But the fact is a body such as this can drive the kinds of institutional changes that we envision.”
This is bad.
I agree, Chris! Setting up such a Board is total nonsense. The question is why? Looks like O is setting up a bureaucracy for a dictatorship. This group certainly isn’t doing anything as atrocities continue. Just look at what Muslims are doing to Christians in the Middle East, Africa and the Far East.