Bush ignores the tragic price of silence on genocide
By ROSE RUSSELL
Toledo Blade, OH
May 7 2005
THIS year marks at least a few milestones that stand as stains on
recent world history.
It is the 90th anniversary of the genocide of at least 1.5 million
Armenians.
It is the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World
War II, during which 6 million Jews were killed.
It is the 11th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda, where nearly
1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were murdered.
On Holocaust Remembrance Day Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon told some 20,000 at Auschwitz in Poland to “always remember
the victims and never forget the murderers.”
He added, “I am certain that all my colleagues – world leaders –
remember how the world stood by in silence. Do not let them forget –
remember the silence of the world.”
His remarks are applicable to anyone who suspects the systematic
murder of a people. The same sentiment was relayed in March when Sen.
Jon S. Corzine (D., N.J.) – cosponsor of the Darfur Accountability
Act with Sen. Sam Brownback (R., Kan.) – spoke about Darfur on the
Senate floor.
” ‘Never again’ is the rallying cry for all who believe that mankind
must speak out against genocide,” he said. “Man’s horrific treatment
of his fellow man cannot be tolerated. We have no right to stand by
while human life is being taken.”
The measure calls for world involvement to stop the crisis in Sudan,
where more than 180,000 been killed, and at least 2 million are
displaced.
The conflict started in early 2003 when rebels began an open revolt
that centers on Arabs who oppose non-Arab blacks, nomads against
farmers, but also Muslims against Muslims.
Yet despite calls to denounce this tragedy, the silence is deafening
in this country. Meanwhile, the U.N. secretary general may want to
send an international peacekeeping force to Sudan; some European
Union nations support a stronger EU role in the region; Canada is
discussing sending 100 military advisors to Darfur and increasing
its $56 million monetary aid by another $70 million, and Japan is
considering sending food and medicine.
Although the Bush Administration planned during the next two years
to spend nearly $1.8 billion for reconstruction, development, and
humanitarian aid in Sudan, it has had little regard for the bipartisan
Darfur Accountability Act.
The bipartisan measure had passed the Senate but did not survive as an
amendment in the final version of the Iraq-Afghanistan Supplemental
Appropriations bill Tuesday night. House Republicans and the White
House opposed the bill, which would have mandated freezing assets
and sanctions against those responsible for the genocide.
An April 30 edition of the Mail and Guardian, Africa’s first online
newspaper, helps explain Washington’s tepid response to calls for
decisive action in Sudan, when it reported “Sudan’s Islamist regime,
once shunned by Washington for providing a haven for Osama bin Laden
as well as for human rights abuses during decades of civil war, has
become an ally in the Bush Administration’s ‘war on terror.’ Only
months after the U.S. accused Kartoum of carrying out genocide in
Darfur, Sudan has become a crucial intelligence asset to the CIA. In
the Middle East and Africa, Sudan’s agents have penetrated networks
that would not normally be accessible to America, one former U.S.
intelligence official told the Guardian.”
Apparently, then, the Bush White House’s perspective on the issue is,
well, if it’s convenient for the administration.