http://www.savedarfur.org/page/community/group_rss/WhatWouldYouDo This is a new group trying to raise awareness of human rights abuses. We are not active for a few months since our leader will be out of the country. Check back for more details. We pledged "never again" after we learned of the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Well, genocide is currently being perpetrated in the Darfur region of the Sudan in Africa. We, as a nation and people, need to make sure we do whatever we can to stop this genocide, we will go over many of our options, but first we must take a look at the background of the genocide. Since early 2003, over 400,000 have been killed in this genocide, and over two million people have been displaced from their homes and have fled to refugee camps and elsewhere. Shockingly, the Sudanese government is orchestrating the genocide. They began this campaign of slaughter in response to two rebel groups who rose up to the government, demanding aid and attention to the neglected Darfur region. The government of Sudan, in cahoots with a nomadic Islamic extremist militia, the Janjaweed, has systematically raped, pillaged and burned down entire villages in Darfur. In many cases, government air craft "fire-strafes" entire villages; the Janjaweed militia then arrives on horseback, where they proceed to murder the men and rape and murder the women and children. The United Nations calls the situation the worst humanitarian crisis in the world right now, and sadly, the genocide gets little to no press coverage in the mainstream media. According to our current administration there is a "War on Terror" being battled right now, however, we all know it's really a war on Islamic extremism, right? But wait, it can't be a war on Islamic extremism; if it was, we would be in Darfur fighting the purest example of Islamic extremism right now, stopping the murderous rampages of the Sudanese government and their Janjaweed militia. Unfortunately, this is not the case, and there are two main reasons why we have not done anything. During the 1990's, Osama Bin Laden had one of his larger Al Qaeda training bases in the Sudan; in exchange for mass weaponry and money, the Sudanese government allowed Al Qaeda and Bin Laden to work freely in their country. This is a fact our current administration is well aware of, and as a result, our government is in bed with the government orchestrating the genocide. We have working relationships with high ranking officials in the Sudanese government that have played roles in organizing the genocide. We work with these officials on counter terrorism intelligence gathering. We reportedly flew in a high ranking Sudanese official, involved with carrying out the genocide, to C.I.A. headquarters in Langley,VA, to discuss counter terrorism intelligence, since the genocide started. The other, equally upsetting reason for no action in Darfur is the simple fact that Darfur is in Africa. Just like every other U.S. administration in the past, we simply turn a blind eye to the troubles that have been plaguing the continent of Africa for decades. The only peace keeping organization that has been deployed in Darfur, is the under manned and under equipped African Union peace keepers. This force is the only protection the Darfurians have from being slaughtered by their own government, and it is simply not enough. We can not stand idly by as a genocide is being perpetrated. We have to do whatever we can to, at the very least, raise some awareness about this horrific situation occurring in Darfur. First and foremost, we must at the very least educate ourselves as to what is happening in Darfur. There are many sources online that you can go to read about the genocide; the only book I've found is "Darfur: An Ambiguous Genocide" by Gerald Prunier, and I had to special order it, it isn't kept on shelves at local bookstores. The only way our government officials will begin to take serious action, rather than give lip service and paper solutions, is if they are under serious political pressure from their constituents. The best way to apply this pressure starts from a grassroots mentality, the good old fashioned letter. If we all send letters to our local congressman and the white house demanding immediate action in Darfur, it will make our government that much more prone to do something. Think about it, these officials want to make their constituents happy, be it for the right reasons or to get reelected for the next term, this is how it works. So, if no one is talking about Darfur or pressuring the government to take some form of action, guess what, no action will be taken. We can also write letters to the editors of our local and national newspapers, expressing our outrage and frustration with the non action in regards to the Darfur genocide. I, along with multiple friends, have written multiple letters to the Miami Herald and Sun-Sentinel; we haven't checked everyday, but we still haven't seen any of our letters published, so we'll keep trying. http://www.savedarfur.org/page/community/post/davidduffy/Bts http://www.savedarfur.org/page/community/post/davidduffy/Bts/commentary#comments Fri, 11 May 2007 11:05:50 EDT http://www.savedarfur.org/page/community/post/davidduffy/Bts Duffy305 Duffy305 1 http://www.savedarfur.org/page/community/comment_rss/Bts/