Darfur

I've written some on Darfur before, (see here and here) but the continued inaction of the world in regards to this situation is unacceptible. Nick Kristof has an excellent column up tying the situation to JPII's death (hat tip: The Corner). Go and read the whole thing, but here's the most powerful and relevant part:

"We're proud of what we do," said Kenny Gluck, the operations director based in the Netherlands for Doctors Without Borders. "But people's villages have been burned, their crops have been destroyed, their wells spiked, their family members raped, tortured and killed - and they come to us, and we give them 2,100 kilocalories a day." In effect, Mr. Gluck said, the aid effort is sustaining victims so they can be killed with a full belly.

I'm not proposing that we send American ground troops. But an expanded United Nations and African force, with logistical support from the U.S., is urgently needed. And Condoleezza Rice should immediately visit Darfur to show that it is a U.S. priority.

Mr. Bush should promptly back the Darfur Accountability Act, a bipartisan bill that would pressure Sudan to stop the killing (so far, the White House hasn't even taken a position on the act). Ordinary citizens can also urge their members of Congress to pass the act.

If there is a lesson from the papacy of John Paul II, it is the power of moral force. The pope didn't command troops, but he deployed principles. And it's hypocritical of us to pretend to honor him by lowering our flags while simultaneously displaying an amoral indifference to genocide."

The world's continued toleration of genocide, despite repeated promises of "Never again," is becoming disgusting. Nevermind the fact that this is an "African" country where "Africans" are the ones being killed. For too long has the world simply stood by and watched many an African nation destroy itself on CNN, then thrown up its hands after the fact and said "its just Africa; what can you do? The continent is too corrupt, too dictator ridden, just too screwed up to help." Not many years ago, many were using thes ame line of thought about the Middle East. Democracy in the Middle East? Unthinkable. The culture is too entrenched; local strongmen and totalitarianism are simply the way things are done over there. We would be foolish to try and change it. We did try and change it, and look what has happened.

We would be wise to apply recent history to our worldview of Africa. Failed societies are one of the root causes of terrorism; today it is the Middle East, tomorrow might it be Africa?

Anyway, I urge all of my readers to contact their Congressman and Senators in regards to S. 495, the Darfur Accountability Act. A good site with contact information is here. Also, a website with information on Darfur and how to help is here.

How many times must we say "never again" before we mean it?