18/10: Darfur
Category: America and the World
Posted by: an okie gardener
More evidence that the government of Sudan is behind the genocide in Darfur. From BBC via the Khaleej Times.
LONDON - The Sudanese government is supporting the feared Janjaweed militia, which the United States accuses of genocide against non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur, the BBC reported on Tuesday.
Citing an interview with a man identified only as ‘Ali’, a former member of the militia who admitted to killing innocent villagers in Darfur, the BBC said that Sudanese soldiers trained Janjaweed militiamen, and that the country’s air force bombed a village before the militia went in to kill villagers.
‘Ali’ served in the militia for two years, and is currently seeking asylum in Britain. The BBC consulted other Darfuri exiles in Britain and presented the interview to a psychologist who studied his interview, all of whom believed him.
‘The people who trained us came from the north, from the government. They gave us orders, and they say that after we are trained, they will give us guns and ammunition. We will be split into two groups -- one on horses, one on camels,’ the man told the broadcaster’s evening current affairs programme.
Asked how he knew the men training him were from the government, ‘Ali’ said: ‘They were wearing the uniforms of the military.’
When asked to name the members of the government who were ordering his forces, the man said that one ‘very well known and regular visitor’ was Sudan’s interior minister -- Abdul Rahim Hussein.
Article here. Hat tip Jihadwatch. My earlier post.
Thoughts below.
First, we as a nation cannot allow genocide to go unpunished. To do so would be to violate our own principles. Second, a military invasion of Sudan is not a viable option for several reasons. Third, we are the dominant economic power on the planet. We can cause the Sudanese government to pay such a heavy price for its actions that they may reconsider. Fourth, we need to push harder diplomatically on this issue. We may not accomplish anything concrete, but at least we will demonstrate once again the uselessness of the UN and the moral void that is international diplomacy.
Regarding our own security. Darfur shows us, once again, some realpolitik options regarding the threat from militant Islam. We could make use of fault lines within Islam.
Islam is not homogenous. The Islamic Sudanese government is engaged in racial war against black Muslims. There are many such racial divides within Islam. Arab culture tends to Arab supremacy and devalues others, especially blacks. We could work this fault line.
Not illustrated in Darfur, but brought up in the earlier post on Shia/Sunni, this fault line within Islam has been a bloody conflict for centuries.
Of course, the present administration has rejected a realpolitik approach to the problem. Instead choosing an idealistic approach of trying to spread democracy, peace, and harmony, within Islam. Iraq is the test case. If the Shiites and the Sunnis, and on a different fault line the Arabs and the Kurds, cannot put aside their differences there, then we may need to pronouce the Bush policy a failure and turn to a Cold War style realpolitik. Though admittedly this violates basic American values (although the adminstration is pretty chummy with the deplorable rulers of Saudi Arabia).
LONDON - The Sudanese government is supporting the feared Janjaweed militia, which the United States accuses of genocide against non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur, the BBC reported on Tuesday.
Citing an interview with a man identified only as ‘Ali’, a former member of the militia who admitted to killing innocent villagers in Darfur, the BBC said that Sudanese soldiers trained Janjaweed militiamen, and that the country’s air force bombed a village before the militia went in to kill villagers.
‘Ali’ served in the militia for two years, and is currently seeking asylum in Britain. The BBC consulted other Darfuri exiles in Britain and presented the interview to a psychologist who studied his interview, all of whom believed him.
‘The people who trained us came from the north, from the government. They gave us orders, and they say that after we are trained, they will give us guns and ammunition. We will be split into two groups -- one on horses, one on camels,’ the man told the broadcaster’s evening current affairs programme.
Asked how he knew the men training him were from the government, ‘Ali’ said: ‘They were wearing the uniforms of the military.’
When asked to name the members of the government who were ordering his forces, the man said that one ‘very well known and regular visitor’ was Sudan’s interior minister -- Abdul Rahim Hussein.
Article here. Hat tip Jihadwatch. My earlier post.
Thoughts below.
First, we as a nation cannot allow genocide to go unpunished. To do so would be to violate our own principles. Second, a military invasion of Sudan is not a viable option for several reasons. Third, we are the dominant economic power on the planet. We can cause the Sudanese government to pay such a heavy price for its actions that they may reconsider. Fourth, we need to push harder diplomatically on this issue. We may not accomplish anything concrete, but at least we will demonstrate once again the uselessness of the UN and the moral void that is international diplomacy.
Regarding our own security. Darfur shows us, once again, some realpolitik options regarding the threat from militant Islam. We could make use of fault lines within Islam.
Islam is not homogenous. The Islamic Sudanese government is engaged in racial war against black Muslims. There are many such racial divides within Islam. Arab culture tends to Arab supremacy and devalues others, especially blacks. We could work this fault line.
Not illustrated in Darfur, but brought up in the earlier post on Shia/Sunni, this fault line within Islam has been a bloody conflict for centuries.
Of course, the present administration has rejected a realpolitik approach to the problem. Instead choosing an idealistic approach of trying to spread democracy, peace, and harmony, within Islam. Iraq is the test case. If the Shiites and the Sunnis, and on a different fault line the Arabs and the Kurds, cannot put aside their differences there, then we may need to pronouce the Bush policy a failure and turn to a Cold War style realpolitik. Though admittedly this violates basic American values (although the adminstration is pretty chummy with the deplorable rulers of Saudi Arabia).
