Darfur needs action, not more lip service
A few weeks ago, Sens. Clinton, McCain and Obama made a joint statement condemning the genocide in Darfur and saying the United States should do more to end the violence. This was the first time since World War II that all major presidential candidates had come together on a foreign policy issue.
Although the United States officially called the violence in Darfur genocide long ago, we continue to talk instead of putting real pressure on the Sudanese government and its supporter, China, to end it. In July 2007 the United Nations promised 17,000 additional peacekeepers for Darfur, and one year later only 2,100 have been deployed.
President Bush needs to hear that the United States must put pressure on the Sudanese government or we will be guilty of not doing enough to end one of the greatest tragedies of modern times. This from a country that claims to be a moral leader in the world.
With the presidential election, it will be hard to keep Darfur in the news, but the genocide will not pause until after the election. To find out more about Darfur and what you can do to help, go to www.savedarfur.org.
Sue Jezorek
Greensboro
Comments (4)
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... except that China and France already wrapped up the oil rights and there's no payback .. but remember we went into Iraq because of Saddam's "inhumanity" ..
Posted on July 5, 2008 7:40 AM
Ms. Jezorek,
No one is going to do squat in Dahfur, regardless of the rhetoric. The only people that would make a real difference there is some armed U.S. military ready to do business. That won't happen, though. Those soldiers and marines would be cheered when they got there and kicked some tail, then the anti-American whiners would take over about America being a bully, and Dahfur being a quagmire. People like JDR would start making their comments such as above. It will be a cold day before you see an American President commit troops into a mission such as that in the near future. It just doesn't pay.
Posted on July 5, 2008 8:10 AM
"People like JDR would start making their comments such as above .. "
Do you think my comments were inaccurate?
Show me, or just be another Goofy ... you might first want to read up on Jay Garner.
Posted on July 5, 2008 9:35 AM
"...we continue to talk instead of putting real pressure on the Sudanese government and its supporter, China, to end it."
True, but there's a slight problem there. Since the Clinton surplus was replaced with a massive deficit over the last seven years, we've borrowed money from the Chinese to pay our bills. China can support the Sudanese government all it wants, send us all the contaminated products it wants, pollute the environment all it wants, and not lose any sleep worrying about retaliation from the U.S. government given the current status quo.
Sorry, Ms. Jezorek, but that's how the world works.
Posted on July 5, 2008 2:34 PM