More on Darfur, “Where is Obama?”
President Obama knows of the difficulties going on in the Sudan, and more than once has previously said that something needed to be done. He’s even made it clear that he considered what was happening to be genocide. Now that Obama is in office, he has done less than one would expect from one who has been so vocal about the Sudan. Indeed, just this week, the White House has shown itself unwilling to take a stand on the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.
Now aid workers are being kicked out of the Sudan. It’s been long since the time for action. While we can all agree that there are many concerns hitting the president’s desk at the same time, this does not mean he should ignore the deplorable, inhumane conditions which continue to rise in the Sudan under his watch. Where is he? Does he have any plans to deal with the situation? The more he waits, the worse it will be, and the harder it will be for him and for anyone else to deal with the crimes against humanity as we see in Darfur today.
Following an initiative that a member of STAND has sent to me, I agree with the following recommendation, modifying the language slightly: call the State Department’s public comment line at 202-647-6575 AND email the White House from www.whitehouse.gov/contact. Ask Secretary Clinton and President Obama what specific actions the administration plans to take on the Sudan, especially if the expulsion order is not rescinded.
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Thanks for posting this, Henry. Obama has to understand that the situation on the ground will not wait for the completion of the policy review that he says he’s conducting. This is the second emergency in Darfur that’s occurred under his watch, and his record is not good.
Oh, and you are welcome Mickey. It’s important this is not forgotten in the midst of everything else.
I eagerly await a concerted and international response to the horror in Darfur. Having said that, with only a few weeks out of the gate as president, and the economy crumbling around him, I, for one, will forgive Obama if he hasn’t done everything he promised or hoped to do during his presidency just yet. I’d rather the president responded well, than quickly.
So you would like to see an expansion of Bush’s interventionist foreign policy?
Once again, Henry, thanks for bringing attention to this extremely important issue. It is truly hard to understand why so little is being done to stop the genocide taking place in Darfur. I fault President Bush for his inaction, and now I fault President Obama for his unwillingness (thus far) to act.
Mikey,
That’s the problem. I know Obama knows the situation quite well, and it is very odd he isn’t doing anything but minor, symbolic gestures which help no one. I can understand there are some tough issues he is working with, but I can’t see why he hasn’t given someone the task to advise him on Darfur and done something yet.
Patrick: while I do understand some of the circumstances surrounding Obama right now, I don’t see how it would stop him from forming a group to deal with Darfur, and to give him some quick, day by day advise. Right now, the inaction is just increasing the inhumanity of it all.
Zach: there are many ways one can go about dealing with Darfur.
Feddie: you are welcome. The genocide continues; I thought (hoped) Obama would be different here. It is one of many things in which a response can’t wait. I think it is possible something will happen, but Obama needs to be reminded, especially of his own words, until real action is done.
Well said, Henry. I could not agree more.
Henry,
Agreed. I readily admit I know nothing about what ought to be done.
Now that Obama is in office, he has done less than one would expect from one who has been so vocal about the Sudan.
Less than who would expect? I’m sure that, just as we’ve been assured that he was doing when he promised to sign FOCA as his first act, he was just pandering to his audience when he called the Darfur situation “genocide”.
These are just the things he says to get elected. He doesn’t really mean them.
Paul
One could argue different situations would have different likelihood of being fulfilled. Those matters he promises which are less controversial and more universally accepted would be most likely those he would do something with. That’s how I see it. And one would expect that here with Darfur (look to how Feddie and I agree here). That he doesn’t is more than a little disappointing.
Those matters he promises which are less controversial and more universally accepted would be most likely those he would do something with.
I’m not sure that anything but minor, symbolic gestures which help no one are non-controversial. (Well, maybe some major, symbolic gestures which help no one.)
When the suggestion that something be actually, you know, done to end the genocide is interpreted as a call for “an expansion of Bush’s interventionist foreign policy,” there’s an excellent chance that nothing will be actually done.
Tom,
How do you stop genocide?
Zach,
You intervene.
Also I admit that was a poorly worded question. But what does intervening mean?
We are no longer the world’s father. We’re broke.
I don’t like the idea of Obama as president but I don’t think he really has time or money for a problem that the African Union is not keen on settling according to Desmond Tutu in the NY Times editorial page the other day. Obama is likely being told he needs them..the African Union… and they are not for Al-Bashir turning himself in to Europeans who devoured Africa when they could a mere hundred+ years ago and now are suddenly peace judges. Tutu wants the Euro’s to win in this but the anti-Euro feeling is high against it in the African Union. Obama cannot invade…our invading days are over. Nor can he risk inciting another Muslim retaliation within New York or DC by again invading a Muslim nation. We seem to be de-contructing as it is. Remember when Portugal was the leading power along with Spain. Trajectories change and responsibilities decrease when they do.
Bill-
I don’t think anyone would disagree that the United States lacks the money to go it alone in Darfur. But we still have an enormous amount of influence, and we can and should use that influence to shame other countries (and the U.N.) into working collectively to stop the genocide in Darfur. What does it say about the U.N./international community that it cannot or will not act to stop genocide? If the U.N. isn’t willing to intervene in Darfur, then really what is the point of the organization?
feddie
We probably just disagree on how close the US is to bankruptcy. We do not provide health care for our own people and we are play-acting as financial superman in other countries. Permit me to quote the erstwhile P Diddy…. “stop the rain, stop the pain, give stress a rest…let’s stop the games.” Or let’s quote Aquinas: “a man is not bound to do what he cannot duly accomplish”. If we solve Dafur but never mention that we did it at the price of US babies dying from lack of medical care, then that is street magic…like David Blaine….street magic.
feddie
I missed your previous point on the UN. I don’t think it can be shamed. And the Islam lobby there is substantial. The rapes that are occurring in Dafur are actually implied as normal within the muslim canonical hadiths (Bukhari…a canonical author) wherein the warriors come to Muhammed and ask him if they can use withdrawal on the captured women:
” “Narrated Abu Sai’id Al-Khudri that while he was sitting with Allah’s Apostle he said, ‘Oh Allah’s Apostle! We get female captives as our share of booty, and we are interested in their prices, what is your opinion about coitus interruptus?’ [a sexual practice] The Prophet said, ‘Do you really do that? It is better for you not to do it, No soul that which Allah has destined to exist, but will surely come into existence.” Bukhari vol.3 book 34 (Book of Sales i.e. Bargains) ch.111 no.432 p.237.
I remember reading something by Bin Laden wherein each time he talked of black people, he instead used the term “slaves” as though they were such by color in his eyes….and that is what you may well have with the janjaweed who combine Bukhari with their own conduct and rationalize it into accepted tradition.
What action do you advocate? Passing resolutions and conducting policy reviews is about all the administration can do, short of the use of violence…