View Full Version : Cool (SUDAN)
NousDefionsDoc
07-22-2004, 16:38
http://allafrica.com/stories/200407220893.html
Congressman Joe Hoeffel (Democrat from Pennsylvania) blocked the entrance to the embassy with his wife, Francesca, and activist **** Gregory as a crowd of protesters called on Sudan to act to prevent the slow death that has become the fate of the people of Darfur.
As they have almost every day since June 29, the demonstrators came together outside the embassy in the hot summer sun to march, sing protest songs and speak about the crisis in Darfur, where thousands of black Sudanese have been driven from their homes by Arab militiamen known as the Jingaweit.
When Representative Hoeffel and his wife and Gregory refused to respond to several warnings to move from the entrance, they were handcuffed and removed from the embassy by officers from the U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division.
Prior to his act of civil disobedience, Hoeffel told the 100 protesters, including about 30 children, who joined the trio in forming a picket line on the Embassy Row sidewalk: "We are here to stand with you to say what is happening in the Sudan is genocide -- it is government-sponsored genocide. It is ethnic cleansing partially based on race, partially based on religion. It is wrong, and it is time to call it for what it is."
The New York Times
February 23, 2005
OP-ED COLUMNIST
The Secret Genocide Archive
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Photos don't normally appear on this page. But it's time for all of us to look squarely at the victims of our indifference. {Photos available at link below.}
These are just four photos in a secret archive of thousands of photos and reports that document the genocide under way in Darfur. The materials were gathered by African Union monitors, who are just about the only people able to travel widely in that part of Sudan.
This African Union archive is classified, but it was shared with me by someone who believes that Americans will be stirred if they can see the consequences of their complacency.
The photo at the upper left was taken in the village of Hamada on Jan. 15, right after a Sudanese government-backed militia, the janjaweed, attacked it and killed 107 people. One of them was this little boy. I'm not showing the photo of his older brother, about 5 years old, who lay beside him because the brother had been beaten so badly that nothing was left of his face. And alongside the two boys was the corpse of their mother.
The photo to the right shows the corpse of a man with an injured leg who was apparently unable to run away when the janjaweed militia attacked.
At the lower left is a man who fled barefoot and almost made it to this bush before he was shot dead.
Last is the skeleton of a man or woman whose wrists are still bound. The attackers pulled the person's clothes down to the knees, presumably so the victim could be sexually abused before being killed. If the victim was a man, he was probably castrated; if a woman, she was probably raped.
There are thousands more of these photos. Many of them show attacks on children and are too horrific for a newspaper.
One wrenching photo in the archive shows the manacled hands of a teenager from the girls' school in Suleia who was burned alive. It's been common for the Sudanese militias to gang-rape teenage girls and then mutilate or kill them.
Another photo shows the body of a young girl, perhaps 10 years old, staring up from the ground where she was killed. Still another shows a man who was castrated and shot in the head.
This archive, including scores of reports by the monitors on the scene, underscores that this slaughter is waged by and with the support of the Sudanese government as it tries to clear the area of non-Arabs. Many of the photos show men in Sudanese Army uniforms pillaging and burning African villages. I hope the African Union will open its archive to demonstrate publicly just what is going on in Darfur.
The archive also includes an extraordinary document seized from a janjaweed official that apparently outlines genocidal policies. Dated last August, the document calls for the "execution of all directives from the president of the republic" and is directed to regional commanders and security officials.
"Change the demography of Darfur and make it void of African tribes," the document urges. It encourages "killing, burning villages and farms, terrorizing people, confiscating property from members of African tribes and forcing them from Darfur."
It's worth being skeptical of any document because forgeries are possible. But the African Union believes this document to be authentic. I also consulted a variety of experts on Sudan and shared it with some of them, and the consensus was that it appears to be real.
Certainly there's no doubt about the slaughter, although the numbers are fuzzy. A figure of 70,000 is sometimes stated as an estimated death toll, but that is simply a U.N. estimate for the deaths in one seven-month period from nonviolent causes. It's hard to know the total mortality over two years of genocide, partly because the Sudanese government is blocking a U.N. team from going to Darfur and making such an estimate. But independent estimates exceed 220,000 - and the number is rising by about 10,000 per month.
So what can stop this genocide? At one level the answer is technical: sanctions against Sudan, a no-fly zone, a freeze of Sudanese officials' assets, prosecution of the killers by the International Criminal Court, a team effort by African and Arab countries to pressure Sudan, and an international force of African troops with financing and logistical support from the West.
But that's the narrow answer. What will really stop this genocide is indignation. Senator Paul Simon, who died in 2003, said after the Rwandan genocide, "If every member of the House and Senate had received 100 letters from people back home saying we have to do something about Rwanda, when the crisis was first developing, then I think the response would have been different."
The same is true this time. Web sites like www.darfurgenocide.org and www.savedarfur.org are trying to galvanize Americans, but the response has been pathetic.
I'm sorry for inflicting these horrific photos on you. But the real obscenity isn't in printing pictures of dead babies - it's in our passivity, which allows these people to be slaughtered.
During past genocides against Armenians, Jews and Cambodians, it was possible to claim that we didn't fully know what was going on. This time, President Bush, Congress and the European Parliament have already declared genocide to be under way. And we have photos.
This time, we have no excuse.
*********************************
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/23/opinion/23kristof.html?ex=1266901200&en=d9bc5fbe39eed505&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland
Roguish Lawyer
02-25-2005, 12:44
So should we do anything about this? :munchin
The New York Times
February 23, 2005
OP-ED COLUMNIST
The Secret Genocide Archive
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Photos don't normally appear on this page. But it's time for all of us to look squarely at the victims of our indifference.
we bought this song and dance before we got into Somalia...**** 'em and feed 'em beans...
we bought this song and dance before we got into Somalia...**** 'em and feed 'em beans...
Concur. Except I say **** em' and feed em' Joe Hoeffel.
Roguish Lawyer
02-25-2005, 17:34
Concur. Except I say **** em' and feed em' Joe Hoeffel.
Soylent Lib?
Team Sergeant
02-25-2005, 17:38
So should we do anything about this? :munchin
There are about 55 countries in Africa.
Am I missing something, 55 seperate countries and they can do nothing?
I'm calling BS.
TS
What ever happened to ACRI?
Team Sergeant
02-26-2005, 08:22
ACRI was shit canned in the late 90's.
Too much fighting between countries, Ambassadors that want U.S. Special Forces to come "unarmed", etc. SF Command finially put an end to the mission.
TS
Ambassadors that want U.S. Special Forces to come "unarmed"...This reminds me of an article I read on Thursday regarding a Pentagon plan to allow SOF to enter a foreign country without formal approval by the ambassador.
Wash Post - Pentagon Seeking Leeway Overseas (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48522-2005Feb23.html?sub=AR)
In one instance, U.S. commanders tried to dispatch Special Forces soldiers into Pakistan without gaining ambassadorial approval but were rebuffed by the State Department, said two sources familiar with the event. The soldiers eventually entered Pakistan with proper clearance but were ordered out again by the ambassador for what was described as reckless behavior. "We had SF [Special Forces] guys in civilian clothes running around a hotel with grenades in their pockets," said one source involved in the incident, who opposes the Pentagon plan.
Did they give a year for the civvies and grenade story? Most people I knew who hung out in that area were very low key. Now, goin' and comin' was a different story
Then again most staff/office wennies about shit a brick if they found out you had a piece stashed somewhere on you.
Pete
Who never had to stash anything. The guys I travelled with took good care of the old fart.
The Reaper
02-26-2005, 12:03
ACRI was shit canned in the late 90's.
Too much fighting between countries, Ambassadors that want U.S. Special Forces to come "unarmed", etc. SF Command finially put an end to the mission.
TS
Exactly.
State is not exactly a hotbed of warriors, and the same assholes who want you to come in unarmed will be the first to hang you out to dry while you are there.
USASFC finally said the boys come with their basic load on all deployments, or not at all.
I could give a rat's ass less if a guy has grenades in his pocket, as long as they are properly issued, stored, and he is safe with them. Now, if one was dropped and went off in his office, I could see where that might be an issue.
We were denied weapons on a couple of trips to Colombia because several had been misplaced by non-Army personnel, and a female USAF officer kind of went wild with hers and shot up a street.
Go figure.
TR
Did they give a year for the civvies and grenade story?Pete, no year quoted in the article, the source was also unnamed.
Exactly.
"and a female USAF officer kind of went wild with hers and shot up a street".
Go figure.
TR
The Zona Rosa has that effect on people.
Roguish Lawyer
02-26-2005, 17:23
The Zona Rosa has that effect on people.
Today, I will resist temptation. Well, this one anyway. :)
Getting back to the thread, I think going in and claening this mess up would be a good job for say France, Germany and all the other damm whiny Europukes.
Why do lib always want us to fix these problems, the bitch at us when we do???
Frustrated.... :mad: