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U.S. Promises on Darfur Don’t Match Actions

Bush Expresses Passion for Issue, but Policies Have Been Inconsistent

By Michael Abramowitz Washington Post Staff Writer

In April 2006, a small group of Darfur activists — including evangelical Christians, the representative of a Jewish group and a former Sudanese slave — was ushered into the Roosevelt Room at the White House for a private meeting with President Bush. It was the eve of a major rally on the National Mall, and the president spent more than an hour holding forth, displaying a kind of passion that has led some in the White House to dub him the “Sudan desk officer.”

Bush insisted there must be consequences for rape and murder, and he called for international troops on the ground to protect innocent Darfuris, according to contemporaneous notes by one of those present. He spoke of “bringing justice” to the Janjaweed, the Arab militias that have participated in atrocities that the president has repeatedly described as nothing less than “genocide.”

“He had an understanding of the issue that went beyond simply responding to a briefing that had been given,” said David Rubenstein, a participant who was then executive director of the Save Darfur Coalition, which has been sharply critical of the administration’s response to the crisis. “He knew more facts than I expected him to know, and he had a broader political perspective than I expected him to have.” Yet a year and a half later, the situation on the ground in Darfur is little changed: More than 2 million displaced Darfuris, including hundreds of thousands in camps, have been unable to return to their homes. The perpetrators of the worst atrocities remain unpunished. Despite a renewed U.N. push, the international peacekeeping troops that Bush has long been seeking have yet to materialize.

Bush pays a lot of lip service. Bush then dismisses the promises. His priorities are to reduce world population, how can he be bothered by the suffering of anything but the pocketbooks of his “Military Industrial Complex”. When Bush and Cheney emerge from their bunkers after Armageddon, the world population should be more manageable. Bush doesn’t even realize how long his Armageddon will take … or maybe he does and plans to be cryogenically frozen for a century or two.

Posted by bosskitty October 29th, 2007 | Category: Accountability, Armageddon, Bush, Cheney, Corporate Corruption, Darfur, Democide, Geneva Convention, Promises, arrogance, bunkers, genocide | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL