BARACK OBAMA DEMOCRATIC CAMP AND SUDAN
By Steve Paterno

Sudan Tribune
Wed, Sep 24, 2008
Sudan

September 23, 2008 — More often, the members of Democratic Party in
America are portrayed as dovish and their Republican counterparts are
portrayed as hawkish when it comes to American foreign policy. However,
such portrayal can hardly measure up to American history. The reality
reveals that the past greatest wars America ever involved in are the
results of interventions by Democratic Party administrations.

The first President to have ever done that was Woodrow Wilson from the
Democratic Party who got Americans involved in World War I. Wilson did
not only involved the United States in the world’s greatest war, but
he established a legacy of American international interventionism–a
legacy that is interestingly followed to date by the Neo-Cons of
Republican Party in President George W. Bush’s administration, and
to a great deal embraced by European countries. David M. Kennedy,
a history professor, captures this point well when he argues that,
"Wilson’s ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the
twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything,
taken on even greater vitality." Another historian, Walter Russell
Mead, says, "Wilson’s principles… still guide European politics
today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security,
international law, and a league of nations" are among those principles.

Under Wilson’s leadership, American fought the greatest war the world
ever experienced. In the American hemisphere, Wilson maintained
American superiority through military interventions, occupations,
and regime changes. In Europe, Wilson sent troops to keep in check
the newly emerging Soviet aggression. He went on to intervene in
stopping Armenian’s genocide.

The World War II is another greatest war that witnessed American
intervention on a massive scale than never before. It was also the work
of a Democratic Party President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Roosevelt
saw America as the "Arsenal of Democracy." He rejected the neutrality
attitude and instead embarked on expanding American military bases
around the world. If American military today occupy bases throughout
the globe, it must partly be owed to Roosevelt. President Roosevelt
eventually got Americans involved in World War II, and his successor,
also a Democrat; Harry S. Truman not only helped finished the war
for him, but did it decisively by dropping the atomic bombs–the only
person to have ever authorized the use of such weapon against the arch
rival. Indeed, a convincing proof that a Democratic Party President
cannot only intervene militarily, but can also pull the trigger,
provide economic assistance and protect peace as confirmed by the
Truman Doctrine that led to Marshall Plan and set the basis for the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), European Economic Union,
and ultimately, the policies of containing Soviet aggressions.

The Vietnam War was also a result of a Democratic President
intervention, made central in President John F. Kennedy’s
administration, especially in his inaugural address, where he pledged
to the Americans to "pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship,
support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival
and success of liberty." Kennedy’s successor, also a Democrat,
Lyndon Baines Johnson upgraded the significance of Vietnam military
intervention in his administration and escalated it further. The
Americans had to find a Republican President, Richard Nixon to
reverse the interventionism advanced by Democratic administrations;
Nixon had to withdraw US troops out from Vietnam.

Even President William Jefferson Clinton, a Democrat who seems to
be an exception to this rule had made some unilateral attempts of
interventions. The misfiring of U.S. cruise missiles that hit Osama
bin Laden’s parking lot in Afghanistan and killing a camel in Sahara
Desert in the Sudan are some of the credits that can be attributed
into Clinton’s attempts of unilateral interventions. Perhaps the most
memorable Clinton’s unilateral intervention was the one in Kosovo
where some of Clinton’s aid still brag about it that the Americans
"bombed Serbian targets until Slobodan Milosevic acquiesced. Not a
single American died in combat. Many nations protested that the United
States violated international law, but the United Nations subsequently
deployed a mission to administer Kosovo and effectively blessed NATO
military action retroactively." Speaking of Kosovo and Milosevic,
one will clearly draw comparisons and Parallels to the current state
of affairs in Sudan.

Of course, Clinton regretted very much not intervening to stop the
genocide in Rwanda and apologized for not "fully appreciating the
depth and speed" of the Rwandan genocide. Nonetheless, it seems
Barack Obama and his Democratic team is about to redeem Clinton and
follow-up on the footstep of their predecessors, started by Woodrow
Wilson legacy of interventionism. Obama may naively be portrayed to
have said he is going to have tea with the provocatively agitated
President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. However, the message Obama
have for the President of Khartoum in Sudan is different, hawkish in
style, if you like. Obama pledges, as a matter of priority to hold
accountable President Omar al-Bashir and the company for war crimes
and end the genocide in Darfur. Obama running mate, Joe Biden is even
more explicit in his tone in dealing with Khartoum. Biden proposes that
"it’s time to put force on the table and use it." Biden’s argument is
that America is capable of going it alone and it must do so because
"those kids will be dead by the time the diplomacy is over."

Other foreign policy advisors and supporters of Barack Obama are on
the record, arguing for unilateral US military intervention to stop
the ongoing genocide in Darfur. Among the pack is Susan E. Rice, a
prominent foreign policy chief advisor to Obama’s camp. For example,
in an article title, "US should act without UN in Darfur" (co-authored
by two other prominent figures in Democratic Party, Congressman
Donald M. Payne and Anthony Lake, a long-term US diplomat), they
argue that there is only "one language Khartoum understands: the
credible threat or use of force." They go into proposing that with
or without the U.N. blessings, the US military must "strike Sudanese
airfields, aircraft and other military assets. It could blockade Port
Sudan, through which Sudan’s oil exports flow. Then U.N. troops would
deploy–by force, if necessary, with U.S. and NATO backing." Toting-up
to these growing voices, another long-term diplomat from Obama’s camp,
Richard Holbrooke, has gone on the record, calling for al-Bashir’s
arrest by International Criminal Court (ICC) base on pending charges
against al-Bashir for war crimes and genocide.

Given these factual evidences, the Democratic Party under Barack
Obama, if elected, can reclaim the legacy of interventionism set
forth by Woodrow Wilson–the legacy, which has ever since been
practiced in both America and Europe by both conservatives and liberals
alike. For Obama, fortune has provided time and place to practice this
legacy. The time is now and the place is Sudan. But one will wonder
that what if John McCain instead of Obama wins the election, then one
will hope that McCain will do the same, follow on Bush’s policy of
unilateral intervention, a typical Wilsonian foreign policy. As for
those Europeans, Wilson’s ideals are still very much alive in their
political culture. They can use it in the ICC by making sure that
the international justice system is functioning well to prosecute
real international criminals like President Omar al-Bashir. After
all, the Europeans were the ones behind foundation of the court,
the fact that the Rome Statue of ICC is bearing the name of one of
their prominent cities.

Steve Paterno is the author of The Rev. Fr. Saturnino Lohure,
A Romain Catholic Priest Turned Rebel. He can be reached at
stevepaterno@yahoo.com