Darfur's Killing Fields

There is one confederacy of thugs that appears to have gotten off fairly well after the 9/11 attacks, despite a confirmed relationship with Al-Qaeda: the Sudanese junta. The gentlemen in Khartoum are still at the killing game, in Darfur, where, according to Julie Flint, an author of the Human Rights Watch report titled ?Darfur Destroyed?, ?[m]ore than 300,000, it is said, may die this year.?

Now, finally, the United States and the UN have decided to do something about it. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan have decided to travel to Sudan to help put an end to the carnage.

In that case, Flint?s plea for more outside help, and possible reactions to the humanitarian catastrophe, may have fallen on deaf ears.

Comments

[Gary Gunnels]

Who honestly wants to send thousands of American soldiers to the Sudan? Not I.

[SR]

If I was the Sudanese government, I'd tell Powell that we'd cooperate as soon as the US extradites Bill Clinton to face charges of negligent homicide and arson for the damage and deaths that occurred during the bombing of the country's primary pharmaceutical plant under the mistaken impression it was a chemical weapons factory.

[Ray]

Umm, news to Mr. Young. This is Reason magazine, not National Review.

Take your foreign interventionist, imperialistic money grubbing hands off of those poor Africans. They're probably not ready for liberty yet anyway.

[R C Dean]

I don't see a US national interest at stake in Sudan either, assuming we have the local AQ affiliates under our thumb.

As to whether the Africans are ready for liberty, I am astonished to read anyone say that a people is not. The only question should be how best to achieve liberty in Africa, not whether to do so.

[Jay]

R C Dean, I believe Ray's comment is meant 'tounge in cheek'.

[Ruthless]

"Now, finally, the United States and the UN have decided to do something about it."

The evolution of society moves so slowly because of the Alphonse and Gastone routine: "After you! No, after you!"

Thanks to Eleanor Roosevelt's invention, the UN, voters can feel good that something always gets done expeditiously.

As we (the Hit and Run "we") know, nothing is really being done.
The UN is the "not really doing anything," charade, sort of like the leading candidate for Prez in the US: NotBush.

Kofi Annan should change his name to Kofi Anon... the Shakespearean filler name like "Yea Verily" in the King James version of the bible.

[Will]

Who honestly wants to send thousands of American soldiers to the Sudan? Not I.

I guess there isn't enough oil there to warrent an invasion...

[Josh]

I would have probably still opposed sending troops into the Sudan, but it would make a hell of a lot more sense than sending troops into Iraq. Clear, unambiguous ties to Al Qaeda, actively killing civilians, aspire to have chemical weapons, etc.

[Ruthless]

One reason why Ruthless is ruthless is because he is prepared for thousands, yea verily, millions to die while humankind "unscrews" itself, going back and taking the right paths instead of the wrong ones.
Like the 100th monkey, humans need to understand governments are bad therefore the UN is bad squared.
National sovereignty is an excuse for violence. The UN is an enabler of sovereignty/violence.

In Ruthless' mind, he's being humane because continuing to evolve/lurch down the currently generally accepted path is leading to many times more deaths.

[matthew hogan]

Let's LEAVE the region. Please. Take our troops (except for a brief stop to get Osama in Pakistan), our commitments, our aid, our special relationships, and GO!

[joe]

Since there is actually a local opposition in Sudan, one that would (presumably) be willing to cooperate with the United States and play a role in their own liberation, an Operation Sudanese Freedom would have a much better chance of success than OIF. And since there is an ongoing genocide (which we are treaty bound to stop, btw), the moral case is much clearer.

I wouldn't want to see thousands of American troops in Sudan (especially since that would mean Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz would be screwing up their orders), but a few thousand Kenyans, Nigerians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis in blue helmets would probably be a good idea.