Powell Visits Sudan, Demands Action on Darfur
If I were an arrogant sort, I'd claim that my piece on Darfur yesterday made an impact, but I'm not, so I won't. :0) I am happy, though, to see BushCo finally demanding that the Sudanese government take action to stop the genocide and oppression in Darfur.
KHARTOUM, Sudan - Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in Sudan Tuesday demanding the government crack down on Arab militias whose actions he said approached genocide against African villagers in western Darfur.
"I hope to give them a very direct message about how the United States and the international community see the horrific situation," Powell told reporters on his plane from Turkey.
"We need to see action promptly," he added.
A senior U.S. official said earlier Tuesday that up to one million displaced Sudanese could die this year in Darfur region because of a humanitarian crisis blamed on Khartoum.
One million Darfuris have fled their homes in the past 18 months because of the conflict in the arid region between the militias known as the Janjaweed, the government and two rebel groups who say they are acting the protect the villagers.
U.N. officials and human rights groups have said the Janajweed are carrying out ethnic cleansing. Some organizations have likened it to the genocide in Rwanda in the 1990s.
Of course, Powell gave no specifics (unless vague diplo-speak counts as such) about how the US government plans to ensure that their expectations for reform are met. My fear is that Powell will leave, taking the media spotlight with him, and then business will return to usual in Darfur.
The US has a great deal at stake here. One of Bill Clinton's regret was not reacting the the Rwandan genocide more forcefully. The Bush Administration now has a clear opportunity to ensure that the same mistake is not made in Darfur. It would be nice to be able to claim a degree of optimism, but after seeing what BushCo did in Iraq, confidence in their abilities to manage a foreign policy crisis in difficult to come by.
Memo to Colin Powell: how about we see some action to back up those words?
On the other hand, allowing the Saddamite genocide of the Kurds and Shiites was just peachy in your book...
Northstar never said that.
But I guess in your book it was just peachy for Reagan & BushI to sell Saddam the weapons to kill the Kurds and Shiites with, no?
'Cause, dude, he so was our friend compared to Khomeini.
Who got arms from Reagan so Reagan could crow about liberated hostages.
Greg- if you want to debate something I actually wrote, that's fine, but I don't appreciate having someone attempt to put words in my mouth. Genocide is NEVER acceptable, regardless of who is committing it. Besides, if Bush I had been at all concerned about the mass killings of Kurds and Shiites, wouldn't it have made sense to deal with it after the end of Gulf War I?
Frankly, it SHOULD HAVE BEEN dealt with in 1991.
But we had to appease those who insisted that we go no further than the UN resolutions permitted, which was the removal of the Saddamit cockroaches from Kuwait.
Greg- the head appeaser was George H.W. Bush, remember?
To say nothing of the betrayal we dealt Northern Iraqis, who were assured that if they rose up against Saddam after the end of Gulf War I, we would support them. George Bush the First, Colin Powell, et. al. turned a deaf ear to them, and let them all die after they rebelled as we asked them to do.
hmm. I note that Greg has run away ...
Mega dittos The Other Sarah!
It's a darn good thing that President Bill Clinton, who "seized control" of the executive branch of our government with less than 50% of the popular vote, succeeded the "waaaaayyy eeeviilll" Bush I adminstration, and took the significant political risks necessary finish the job in Iraq.
Oh, but wait... I'm only half right here - In eight years in office, Bill Clinton never once placed this country's interests above his own immediate political interests.
Come on folks, he was there for eight F-ing YEARS! He had opportunity!
I just can't wait until Hillary "steals" a presidential election. What this country needs is a socialist president who's brave enough to actually act like a socialist president. Billy just set the stage. Hillary is the real deal.
Think of it! A real socialist in the Oval Office... I just can't wait to hang a chad for Hillary!
Bob...try decaf, willya? Are you serious? Please don't tell me that you honestly think this is Clinton's fault? This is pretty off the wall stuff, even for you.