President Bush and Darfur now - not the movie - 2.19.2008.2

In 2005 a category 5 hurricane named Katrina struck New Orleans and devastated the city. The United States government, lead by FEMA, failed the city and its citizens in a catastrophic manner. This is fact and there can be no dispute of it.

Some have argued that the failure of the government was in part because of the personal beliefs of President Bush in regard to African Americans. It is not the purpose or goal of this blog or me to delve into the heart of the President, but I will state that as the Commander-and Chief and highest elected official of the nation he ultimately is responsible for those that died and suffered. That being said, this failure should not have been a surprise since 2 years prior, and continuing to date, America allowed the deaths of hundreds of thousands.

Today, President Bush was visiting Rwanda. During this visit he went to the site where thousands were buried from the atrocity that occurred in that nation. It was obvious that when questions were asked the foremost would be why America, under his leadership, has allowed genocide to occur that will one day create a similar site. The answer was polispeak and paltry, in my opinion.

“I still believe it was the right decision,” Mr. Bush said. “But, having done that, if you’re a problem solver, you put yourself at the mercy of the decisions of others, in this case the United Nations. And I’m well known to have spoken out by the slowness of the United Nations. It is — seems very bureaucratic to me, particularly with people suffering.”

America has become a policeman of the world in my lifetime. We have entered multiple nations as a peacekeeping force and in wars. Yet, for some reason America has turned its back while the equivalent of Orlando, Florida (or possibly Cleveland, Ohio – the exact number is unknown) have been killed since 2003. Let me make this clear, that’s between 200,000 to 400,000 men women and children that have been killed and counting.

If you are wondering where this is happening, the place is called Darfur and it’s in the Sudan.

Today President Bush stated that he supports African nations taking care of African problems. That is a first, since America and Europe have meddled and created problems in Africa for millennia. President Bush has stated

“White soldiers are a target for both sides of a conflict [in Africa] and are counter-productive to resolution.” – as stated on Fox News via news clip

While that may well be true, this has never prevented America from doing anything before. Such an answer is paltry in my opinion. It leads me to believe that if this mass murder of children was occurring in Europe or affecting Whites, America would be there in gangbusters.

And lest anyone think that President Bush is alone in this decision, I refer you to HR 180 IH. Congress has failed to act on this matter for multiple years, and has facilitated the blind eye America and the major news media have given this genocide. Republicans and Democrats share equally in this failure. The President may be responsible for his actions as the Chief Executive, but Congress is no less complicit.

President Bush went on to say,

“We are cooperating to address violence and genocide in Darfur.”

To that end the President has pledged $100 million dollars to those African nations that will help to end the 5 year long conflict in Darfur. Rwanda is to receive $17 million with Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, Burkina Faso and Malawi also to receive funds. Yet American businesses continue to do business (and thus fund the murder of women and children) with Sudan unabated. And Congress seems too busy with holding meetings about steroids with baseball entertainers or investigating why individuals that are employed at the pleasure of the President were fired (a situation that was never illegal and known to have violated no laws).

America has acted too late and far to hands off in this matter. The major news media have ignored the issue though individuals like George Clooney and more prominently Don Cheadle have tried to being it to the spotlight. I mean Mr. Cheadle even was involved in a movie (Darfur Now) specifically to draw attention here. Yet none of the media paid attention, or the elected officials of the nation.

Thus I must ask why. When the action in Kosovo draw immediate attention and comment, and the problems in Israel are in our headlines. When the politics of Russia and the various nations of the CIS (many of which are only slightly less chaotic) are fodder for pundits. What is the difference?

I can tell you what Kanye West thinks (stated inappropriately in a format that deserved better)



Considering the actions of America about Darfur over the past 5 years I would have to say that his claim has merit. And the Congress along with the major news media is no better.

If you’d like to prove me wrong, write to President Bush and demand more action at:

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

FAX: 202-456-2461
comments@whitehouse.gov

president@whitehouse.gov
vice_president@whitehouse.gov

You can write to Congress to request action in preserving the lives of thousands of women and children via your local Senator or Congressman:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml

Or

http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/