With Andy Garcia as a Janjaweed Strongman?

Tim Cavanaugh | April 28, 2006

Is George Clooney dropping hints about what the big job will be for the gang in Ocean's 13? The star actor and director has been touring Chad and Sudan. His trusty sidekick? Uncle Father Nick Clooney, the erstwhile American Movie Classics host and brother of singing legend Rosemary. Clooney is working both sides of the aisle in an effort to get the United States to stop the genocide in Darfur.

I like Clooney and I don't want to make the umpteenth cheap shot about Hollywood stars and their political campaigns. I think military intervention in Darfur is a non-starter, and I'm glad about that. But what's the clear categorical distinction between intervening in Iraq (which I think it's fair to say Clooney and many other Darfur hawks opposed) and this one? Why does it always seem like progressives support any intervention that clearly does not advance any American interests? (I don't think invading Iraq advanced our national interests, but people made that case, which you definitely can't in the case of Sudan.)