…the United States is in bed with the government in Khartoum on counterterrorism issues and therefore we are looking the other way on a genocide[?]
[Scott Pelley reporting for 60 Minutes from Darfur, Sudan]
I understand implicitly the geopolitical realities that have allowed President George W. Bush’s (axis-of-evil) enemies in Iraq, Iran and North Korea to expose the United States as a superpower paper tiger. Until Sunday, however, I was stupefied as to why Sudan has been allowed to do the same.
After all, for over three years now, “the-Big-Man” Arab dictator of Sudan, Omar Bashir, has ignored all of Bush’s ultimatums to stop his genocidal campaign to exterminate all black African from Darfur.
Moreover, he was not content to defy Bush from the safe haven of the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. Instead, as 60 Minutes reported on Sunday, Bashir and his posse boldly traveled to New York City in September to attend the 61st Session of the UN General Assembly and laughed at Bush as he recited charges of genocide against them during his UN address.
But I was disabused of my stupefaction when 60 Minutes insinuated that these genocidal murderers have been neither defying nor laughing at Bush. Instead, it seems they have been defying and laughing at everyone else in the world who has been pleading with Bush all these years to help save the people of Darfur.
Because 60 Minutes reported probative allegations that, despite his rhetoric condemning them, Bush established an insidious alliance with the Sudanese in the aftermath of 9/11. And this alliance calls for Bashir’s Gestapo to provide “intelligence” on fellow Arab terrorists (as patently absurd and unlikely as that may be) in exchange for complete immunity to perpetrate as much terror within Sudan as their genocidal hearts desire.
Clearly, this puts my serial criticisms of Bush – for being a political and moral hypocrite on Darfur – in a far more sinister light. After all, I had no clue about this alliance when I chastised him here – in an article dated 2 May 2006 entitled Save Darfur Rally: Full of sound and fury signifying nothing!, or here – in an article dated 14 March 2006 entitled Darfur: Thanks for caring America, but you’re already a genocide too late, or here – in an article dated 1 December 2005 entitled Help! Ethnic cleansing and forced starvation persists in Darfur.
Unfortunately, it is equally clear that, though bloodied, Bush remains unbowed by criticisms and damning allegations about any aspect of his presidency (especially his war on terror). In fact, the man seems positively immune to them.
Meanwhile, the promise – that “Never Again” will the world stand by and watch the perpetration of another genocide like the one that was executed in Rwanda just over a decade ago – rings hollow in Darfur today. And this, despite that promise being expressed with such conviction by notable figures including former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former President Bill Clinton and Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elli Weisel.
I’m sorry to say I’m going to sit here with you in two years time and I’m gonna tell you the same sad story. People will say, ‘Ich habe nicht gewusst,’ which is German for ‘I didn’t know.’
[Dr. Ashis Brahma who alone treats 25,000 people in one Darfur refugee camp]
NOTE: For what it’s worth, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1706 on 31 August, which calls for a force of 20,000 soldiers and police to intervene immediately in Darfur. But so far, Bashir has dared them to try….
In fact, such is Bashir’s disdain for the UN that, forget military intervention, he got so fed up with its political meddling that, just days ago, he kicked the UN ambassador out of his country.
Now all that remains is for Bashir to inform the world that his final solution for Darfur is complete and then, without the slightest bit of irony, request U.S. and UN aid to help develop this region of Sudan that he has ethnicly cleansed of black Africans….
Darfur Sudan, Omar Bashir
WeblogBahamas.com says
“Bush established an insidious alliance with the Sudanese in the aftermath of 9/11. And this alliance calls for Bashir’s Gestapo to provide “intelligence” on fellow Arab terrorists (as patently absurd and unlikely as that may be) in exchange for complete immunity to perpetrate as much terror within Sudan as their genocidal hearts desire.”
If this is true, Bush shoud be impeached!
ALH ipinions says
Indeed Weblogbahamas…many Democrats are calling for his impeachment.
But Bush would argue that just as the extraordinary measures taken by presidents from Lincoln to Roosevelt in the conduct of war were consistent with the Constitution, so too is everything he’s done to protect the American people during this war on terror.
Besides, notwithstanding the lust of rank and file Democrats to impeach Bush (for all manner of perceived offenses), their putative leader, Nancy Pelosi, has already ruled it out, “absolutely!”