The Cost of Paralysis

The atrocities committed in Darfur are at last being addressed by this country's government. The cretin in chief has called for European countries to join him in asking the U.N. to impose more sanctions. During the past six years of his term, the deaths and destruction have piled up in Darfur (as they have in other places such as Iraq), while this government waited out one Friedman after another. Now, there is not much inclination of the U.N. to go along with the U.S. posturing.

The refugee crisis in the Sudan area is being joined by crises throughout the Middle East as well.

From Darfur, a renewed fear is mounting. When the West finally begins to look, will Sudan's government have eliminated the ones who could have borne witness to their crimes?

Sudan's government recently agreed to let in 3,000 UN peacekeepers, a fraction of the 22,000 mandated by the Security Council last August. The deployment could still take months and villagers here fear the government will want to get rid of all witnesses to atrocities before peacekeepers move in.

"We need them to come as fast as possible, because we're all in danger," Ibrahim said.

Aid workers and UN personnel say the burial site is just one of three dozen mass graves around Mukjar, a town at ground zero of the Darfur calamity, holding evidence at the heart of the international community's case against Sudanese leaders for war atrocities.

Ibrahim and others interviewed insisted their full names be withheld because they fear reprisals. It is difficult to independently verify their accounts, but they cited dates and victims' names and drew maps of grave sites. Ibrahim named nine of the people buried in the grave he showed to the reporter.

Some of what the witnesses say matches up with what a prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands, has documented: at least 51 cases of alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Mukjar area -- mass executions, torture and rapes of civilians.
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The prosecutor says most of the killings were done by the Sudanese army and the janjaweed, Arab militiamen backed by the Sudanese government. Their war on Darfur rebels, which turned against all black African villagers, has become the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with more than 200,000 dead and 2.5 million made homeless.

While I am glad that the country has finally been brought into a semblance of caring about the mounting genocide, I cannot do other than regret it has been so poorly led, and its objections so delayed. The State of Texas has required divestement by businesses that hold Sudan-based investments. I am proud of the state for that.

The International Criminal Court has indicted two war criminals in the Sudanese government. This country has stated that we hope they will be given up by Sudan, while not mentioning that the U.S. refuses to recognize the ICC.

Our stature internationally is so low, that there has been very little mention of this. No other nation would expect Sudan to take seriously a country that has instituted torture as part of its 'war on terrorism' - and of course, it's probably over the heads of most of the U.S. media.

When decency prevails again in the government of the U.S., perhaps we can have a positive effect and lead other nations in a campaign for a return to decency in the world. For now, all the C-i-C's posturing evokes vague snickers, and certainly no cooperation.