Failure in Darfur

Dear President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner.

I would like to take this opportunity to have a very frank talk with all of you about your complete failure to respond to the genocide in Darfur. The vast majority of Darfur activists, me included, are tired of waiting for you act half as strong as your promises sounded.

Mr. Vice President, let me start off by reminding you what you had to say about the situaiton in Darfur while you were at the CNN/YouTube Democratic Debate;

"I am so tired of this...let's get right to it, I heard the same argument after I came back from

Image via Wikipedia

meeting with Milosevic (Slobodan Milosevic, former Yugoslavian leader of the Serbs' genocidal campaign against Muslims and Croats in the 1990s) "we can't act", "we can't send troops there" where we can America must, why Darfur? Because we can. We should now, those kids will be dead by the time the diplomacy is over..."

Talk about not pulling any punches! Truer words have never been spoken Mr. Vice President. It's to bad they were as hollow as a jack-o-lantern 4 days after Halloween.

You say you've have had it? Well sir I have had it! All the Darfur activists have had it. Any hope of this administration actually taking a stance, actually doing any of the number of things you said you were going to do to help the people of Darfur is slipping away. Heck at this point the Vegas odd are probably better that Omar al-Bashir will win the Nobel Peace Prize before this administration actually takes action to secure peace for Darfur.

While you, Mr. President and Mrs. Secretary, were campaign in Nevada for the Democratic nomination, I got to speak with both you about Darfur. Mr. President, I spoke with you at a town hall meeting at Del Sol High School and I spoke with you, Secretary Clinton at your post debate rally. Matter of fact, let me start with that brief exchange, Secretary Clinton. Mr. President I am saving you for last.

Mrs. Secretary, I spoke with you very quickly as you walked the rail shaking hands and taking photos. Our exchange was so brief that am near positive you don't remember it but I told you that I hoped you felt as strongly as I did about bringing peace to the people of Darfur and you, less then 3 feet away from me, looking me dead in the eyes said "I feel very strongly about it". I asked you to use divestment as a tool to pressure the Sudanese Government and you said "It is a powerful tool that we need to utilize".

Well then utulize it already! What are you waiting for?

In April of 2006 President Bush created Executive Order 13400 which grants Treasury Secretary Geithner and yourself the power to essentially cut off the Sudanese Oil and Chemical Production industries from ALL investment money from the United States. Since we know that 70% of Sudans profits from those two markets are shuttled right back into funding their military and Janjaweed militias you can imagine the dent it could make in their efforts. With one swoop you could basically divest America from a government and a conflict that has been deemed to pose "an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States". Mrs. Secretary, your husband once said that failing to act in Rwanda is his greatest regret as president. Your lack of action, not just your failure to use the powers already granted you in E.O. 13400, but any significant action makes it perfectly clear that you are willing to make that same mistake. Where's the alarm you promised to sound for Darfur now?

Mr. President, at the town hall meeting, I asked you if you would use targeted divestment at a state and federal level as tool to pressure the Sudanese Government much like divestment was used to help end apartheid in South Africa. After you rattled off a long list of Darfur related accomplishments and explained the situation a bit, you said that pressuring the Sudanese government through the use of divestment would be not only effective but a viable alternative to military action. Since taking office you have appointed a Special Envoy and had some meetings. You promised me more, you promised us all more, but most importantly you promised them more and sir to be honest you are failing them all tragically.

Image by Angela Radulescu via Flickr

I know you are trying to repair our global reputation and that your worried that too harsh of a reaction to the Darfur issue would further damage our foreign relation with other Muslim nations. But let me remind you taht while the slow wheels of democracy continue to roll, thousands of innocent people from Darfur continue to suffer. Allowing the atrocities to continue in Darfur does not help our reputation globally or in the Muslim community, as a matter of fact I would dare to say that our failure to react to the Darfur conflict is only further rooting the stigma that we are human rights hypocrites.

When it comes to defending human rights we are all bark and no bite. Whether it's the fragile North - South Peace Accord, dealing with China and Russia, or jeopardizing the flow of anti terrorism information that we get from Sudan, you have amply excuses to do little or nothing and you seem willing to hide behind them. When it comes to Darfur, this administration is truly starting to look like its "All Hat and No Cattle"

Your Special Envoy, General Gration, said that only the "remnants of genocide" remain in Darfur, that we don't see the "coordinated attacks" anymore. Let me clarify something to you, this isn't peace achieved, its the beginning of peace through defeat. Of course the attacks have dwindled down, the Sudanese government has achieved the vast majority of its genocidal goals. Close to 400,000 dead and millions displaced and Al-Bashir did this through the use of torture, murder, rape and starvation. There are only two ways a genocide can end sir. Either the aggressor will be forced to stop and submit to justice or the aggressor achieves their goals or enough of them that they can claim victory. Peace, the kind of peace the people of Darfur deserve, the kind of peace you promised is only achieved through the first option while the second option leaves only submission.

Sorry Mr. President but the buck stops with you. At the end of the day its your responsibility to ensure that this government lives up to not just all its promises but all its potential. In this regard, to date, I am deeply disappointed in you sir.

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Failure in Darfur