There was hesitation, both political and institutional, to get involved in another civil war in Africa after the optics of the Battle of Mogadishu in October 1993 (aka Blackhawk Down). The perceived failure of the UNOSOM missions and the graphic destruction of US military forces (broadcast 24 hours/day by CNN, who learned much about American media appetites in the first Gulf War) by what amounted to a well-armed mob, was a black eye for humanitarian actions in the region. Walter Clark, the (I believe) deputy special envoy to Somalia, was quoted as saying "The ghosts of Somalia continue to haunt US policy. Our lack of response in Rwanda was a fear of getting involved in something like a Somalia all over again."
The immediate post Cold War period in American foreign policy saw us involved in a number of humanitarian interventions, several of which were perceived as spectacular failures; the inability of UN peacekeeping forces (often with heavy US involvement) to deter high-profile horrors like the Srebernica massacre (former Yugoslavia) brought fashionable ideas like the responsibility to protect into question. The truth was that most of those operations were actually getting the job done - the huge contingent of US Marines supporting the UNISOM mission in Somalia was quite effective in restoring order, for instance, and Bosnia and Serbia were effectively sorted out (Richard Holbrooke wrote a great book detailing that peace process). The optics were a problem, though.
Oddly, in some ways the US fell victim to its own success; our sweeping coalition victory in Iraq in 1991 set an unreasonable expectation for the effectiveness of military force as a means for intervention, created undue faith in multilateral coalition building, and also empowered those who supported military intervention in non-warfighting roles. While that method of deployment wasn't exactly new, it was used in the post Cold War world with a newfound vigor and frequency, the possible side effects of a military that quite suddenly found itself without a pole star (no more Soviets, no more mission).
Memories of Vietnam, contrasted with the incredible success of Gulf War I left the American public and politicians with a distaste for quagmires. American involvement in Somalia was too short and ineffective; once the Marines bugged out, the UN peacekeeping forces lost their teeth and the region began to destabilize. For all their effectiveness as combatants (seriously, don't go to war with America), the Rangers, Deltas, and SOAR assets left behind to capture Mohammed Farah Aidid were too small and too bound by ROE to give any bite to the peacekeeping forces still in place. I mean, it's no wonder something like the Battle of Mogadishu transpired; wrong forces, wrong political ideas, bad raid planning and some bad luck created a perfect storm, and ultimately Rwanda would suffer as a result.
What forms of opposition to the genocide were considered by the US? Military intervention, sanctions etc? And what kind of outcome could have been likely depending on the answer to the first question?
Follow up question: Is the book "A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide" by Susan Power considered a good/comprehensive/rigorous examination of American policy as it relates to genocide? I read it a few years ago, and it spent quite a bit of time on the Rwandan genocide and the Clinton administration's reactions to what was happening.
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