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| Africa: Horn |
| Powell says Sudan atrocities now equaling genocide |
| 2004-09-09 |
| Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday that abuses by government-supported Arab militias in Sudan qualify as genocide against the black African population in the Darfur region — a determination that should pressure the government to rein in the fighters. Powell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee the conclusion was based on interviews conducted with refugees from the Darfur violence as well as other evidence. "We concluded that genocide has been committed in Darfur and that the government of Sudan and the Janjaweed (Arab militias) bear responsibility — and genocide may still be occurring," he said. He added that that as a contracting party to an international genocide convention, Sudan is obliged to prevent and punish acts of genocide. "To us, at this time, it appears that Sudan has failed to do so," he said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #15 (Rolls eyes) Tibor, granted that watching Aris fight his hand becomes tiresome after awhile, just because he says something is a good idea it isn't necessarily bad. |
| Posted by: Ernest Brown 2004-09-09 11:13:06 PM |
| #14 remote man wrote: "Aris and Tibor are right on this one." Uh, can I change my views on this one if it means I don't have to agree with Aris? |
| Posted by: Tibor 2004-09-09 9:58:12 PM |
| #13 I would take this in steps. There is no reason that the Janjaweeders should be allowed the use of helicopters. Establish a no fly zone for military aircraft using patrols based in Chad. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-09-09 8:23:45 PM |
| #12 Aris and Tibor are right on this one. We need to send some troops in there and clean this mess up fast. Make the UN look like the feckless fools that they are. I don't care if it would cement a Bush victory be pulling black votes from Kerry. It is the right thing to do. |
| Posted by: remote man 2004-09-09 7:47:38 PM |
| #11 "Sudan is a distraction till aftere Iran. Nobody in Khartoum is developing a bomb, though they may be helping." None of the terrorist massacres so far ever needed a nuclear bomb -- not 9/11, not 3/11, not Beslan --, so if nuclear bombs are your one and only concern then Sudan is indeed only a distraction. But if the problem is Islamofascism and terrorism as a whole, then Sudan is now just third after Iran and Syria in axis-of-Islamofascism power states. And given the genocide it has far greater immediacy. And it has the great advantage that, unlike Iran and Syria, and definitely unlike Iraq, Sudan can be cleanly broken into three pieces, and you don't even need to occupy the one nasty piece, just stop it from hurting the other two ones. That'd be enough to *truly* render it a distraction -- aka stop it from preventing genocide. Turn Darfur defacto independent and likewise with South Sudan. Is freeing two nations from the power of Islamofascism meaningless? nada> Ethnic cleansing and genocide *are* two different meanings. Ethnic cleansing means you are driving a people away. Genocide means you are out to physically destroy it. The Serbs of Krajna for example suffered ethnic cleansing, not genocide. The Armenians, the Jews, the Tutsi on the other hand suffered genocide. |
| Posted by: Aris Katsaris 2004-09-09 7:22:00 PM |
| #10 Sudan is a distraction till aftere Iran. Nobody in Khartoum is developing a bomb, though they may be helping. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2004-09-09 6:19:58 PM |
| #9 Sudan can, probably is, and has been used as a base for al Q. We cannot let the situation go to hell. We are going to first have to rub the UN's nose into it and do our best to have the members of the UN take responsibility. That failing, we need a plan to clean it up. There are serious humanitarian issues involved, and there are serious WoT implications, too, and we cannot just walk away from it. **sigh** more stuff piled up on the plate. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-09-09 6:17:58 PM |
| #8 firt we are need invade chad. |
| Posted by: muck4doo 2004-09-09 5:57:35 PM |
| #7 Sudan is a threat, BA .. There are several camps where children are brainwashed and schooled as radical islamist, ready to destroy the West.. This is done with the help of the Sudanese governement..I'd say the US has to act..It would be good for it's credibility in the WoT |
| Posted by: lyot 2004-09-09 2:20:11 PM |
| #6 I agree with you, Tibor. We need to force the UN's hand and quick. I myself am Christian and became interested in Sudan about a year ago. Personally, I think as we're going through the ME, the new "homefront" for the jihadis will be North Africa (see: Somalia/Black Hawk Down). While I don't want to lose 1 troop to these local punks (after all, Sudan is NOT a threat to us), and would prefer to let them handle it, we promised (after Rwanda) "never again!" This is a win-win (low # of troops needed; supporting native/black Muslims against their jihadi Arab counterparts, and takes away another "home country" for future jihadi base). Low transaction costs, and great "press" for the US. First, and foremost, though, it's the right thing to do! |
| Posted by: BA 2004-09-09 1:42:27 PM |
| #5 As I have argued here before, this is an overdue move by the Bush Administration. Calling this what it is -- a genocide -- is the right thing to do. He should demand UN action and threaten to take unilateral action if nothing is done. (A thousand Marines could probably end the genocide.) This would: (a) shove it up the @ss of (i) the French, (ii) the Chinese, (iii) the Arab League, (iv) the New York Times, and (v) John Kerry; (b) force the UN's hand (if the UN won't act to stop genocide, what the hell do they stand for?); and (c) embarrass the Clinton Administration, which did not have the stones to declare a genocide in Rwanda. Bush could make the whole thing very political, with a Rose Garden press conference featuring Christians such as Brownback, who have been out front on this issue, as well as CBC members like Charlie Rangel. Bush should do this not only because it's the right thing to do, but also because it is part of the GWoT, and is necessary. As an added bonus, it will allow the military to kill more Islamic terrorists while protecting innocent Islamic people who are black to boot! I say win-win. |
| Posted by: Tibor 2004-09-09 1:33:46 PM |
| #4 Isn't the UN supposed to be handling this? This is a chance for it to actually do its job, so let it go and see what happens. (not that we don't know what the outcome is likely to be) |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-09-09 1:13:56 PM |
| #3 Do they still use the term "genocide?" I thought they used "ethnic cleansing" instead. Like there's a difference.... |
| Posted by: nada 2004-09-09 12:12:11 PM |
| #2 Powell should be centering his undivided attention to Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan; and leave the small fry to the UN! I could give a hairy rat's a** what goes on in Sudan. Let the United States of Africa mobilize! |
| Posted by: smn 2004-09-09 12:07:00 PM |
| #1 Powell says Sudan atrocities now equaling genocide So what was it last week? Just a whole lot of discriminate killing? Dumbass. |
| Posted by: BH 2004-09-09 11:28:30 AM |