Should we go to war in Darfur?
Watching Ronan and Mia Farrow on the view yesterday, they think the answer is yes. Though, as good liberals, of course they don't want unilateral US action, but rather a coalition of forces conducted under the auspices of the UN.
I think there was a humanitarian case for invading Iraq; however, there are many other nations, like Sudan, where the human rights violations are as bad or worse than what the Iraqi people suffered under Hussein.
Based on the Farrow's testimony (which I believe to be accurate) it's really horrible there, a sad testament to man's inhumanity to fellow man.
I might be persuaded that the UN or the US should invade Sudan to put an end to this horror. Some questions though: (Remembering Somalia) can force effectively tackle this problem? What happens after we invade? Will we have to occupy like in Iraq? Would we have the same problems occupying Sudan (which has plenty of Islamofascists) as we are presently having in Iraq?
2 comments:
(Hello, I've been lurking here for a while and thought I'd finally make a comment.)
Humanitarian-wise it might be the right thing to do, but another question is: are US forces currently too limited and/or exhausted to pursue a purely humanitarian effort?
Right or wrong I think its safe to say that, between Iraq and whatever potential threat is posed by Iran/N. Korea, the U.S. is downright bogged down.
So, whether or not we 'should' help is likely negated by the fairly simple calculation that we probably won't.
That's just related to US forces though. The UN might feel more free to take action.
"International" assent is just a way of spreading out the moral responsibility.
But since the UN and the (so-called, I must say) international community is not moral, as each nation acts almost solely in its own narrow interest, there is little chance anything will be done.
Even on those few occasions when the international community (read a handful of nations in the west) does act, it's not in situations like Darfur, where there's no way around killing bad guys, or innocents getting caught in the crossfire.
Neither will the Muslim world approve of any action against the Islamist government of Sudan or their hatchetmen, the janjaweed.
And neither will the governments of Africa approve of anything that smacks of neo-colonialism (read western troops).
When you slice up the membership of the UN, you'll find far more cynics than idealists.
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