Thursday evening, Kansas City and Topeka public television stations presented a program titled, “Ghosts of Rwanda,” a documentary that should be seen by all Americans concerned about America’s role in world affairs, as well as those who have questions about the effectiveness and role of the United Nations.

The two-hour show is extremely well done, but it includes many horrific scenes of the hundreds, thousands of bodies of victims who have been hacked to death by machete-wielding members of the rebel Hutu tribe. Pictures show hundreds of bodies and body parts floating in rivers, lying along the roadside, inside churches, everywhere.

The scenes themselves are shocking, but what is even more shocking is the manner in which the Clinton administration wore blinders and refused to take any action to try to stop the 1994 genocide, which eventually took at least 800,000, and perhaps up to 1 million, lives.

Just as guilty as the Clinton administration was the United Nations, whose refusal to send troops into the area was equally shocking.

In fact, because the designation of any situation as “genocide” automatically calls for an immediate U.N. response, U.S. officials were told not to use that term.

Washington officials claimed they did not have sufficient information about what was going on in Rwanda, although daily news reports told of the unbelievable slaughter and mutilations. After it was over, U.S. officials claimed if they had known the seriousness of the situation and how many were being killed, they would have taken action.

This doesn’t jibe, however, because International Red Cross officials were clear and strong in their cries for help. In fact, Red Cross officials and workers were about the only ones willing to step in and try to quell the violence and save as many as possible.

Most U.N. officials were told to leave Rwanda, but a few elected to stay to try to do something, anything, to negotiate with Hutu leaders and stop the killing.

PBS directors and reporters did an excellent job in their interviews with former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who acknowledged strongly differing opinions within the Clinton administration. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and other U.S. officials, as well as U.S. State Department personnel and church representatives, all acknowledged their awareness of how terrible the situation was.

Top U.S. and U.N. officials couldn’t have been unaware of the situation. They just didn’t want to have to deal with it. They turned their backs on this terrible chapter of human cruelty and hoped it would somehow go away or fade from memory.

A Red Cross official talked about his “brain turning to iron” because that was the only way he could continue to work with the massive scenes of death, trying to save those who had been mutilated. A young lady who survived a single massacre of roughly 5,000 people inside a church, told of lying under dead bodies, covered by blood and pretending to be dead. She didn’t move from her original location for a number of days. When she did move, she hid in a small closet in the church, remaining among the dead for 45 days while dogs and rats chewed on the bodies.

This has to be one of the most disgraceful, shameful episodes in this nation’s history, as well as in the history of the United Nations. Washington officials went about their business, smiling and doing nothing about the killing in this small African nation, saying that if it was serious enough or they had sufficient information to justify Uncle Sam’s intervention, they, indeed, would have taken action.

As one television reviewer stated, “Two hours in length, ‘Ghosts’ unfolds at a deliberate pace that is rare for television. At the same time, this tale of unspeakable human cruelty and complicated acts of government indifference is not easy to watch.”

Although it is, indeed, difficult to watch, it is a program that should be seen by as many Americans as possible. Hopefully, a lesson can be learned, while pointing with shame on Washington and the United Nations.

Video and printed material on the show can be ordered through the PBS Web site, pbs.org.

It is not a comfortable show, and it is highly questionable whether young children should be allowed to view the shocking display of killing and the lack of desire to help.

However, it is important for American citizens to know about the massive killings in this far-away African country. In hindsight, what are the consequences of the lack of action by the United States and United Nations? Will some argue that, even though 800,000 to 1 million people were killed, it was wise for Uncle Sam to stay away from the slaughter and avoid getting bogged down in Africa and African politics?

What lessons can be learned from this embarrassing and tragic genocide and applied in current situations?