Tuesday, June 21, 2005

No Relief for Darfur

I've been keeping up with the news from Darfur rather frequently over the last year. The situation is harrowing, and it just doesn't seem like there is an end in sight. The U.N. has been trying desperately to keep up with needs for food, medicine, and clean water for the 3.5 million people who have been displaced, but they keep falling short. This editorial in the Washington Post is poignant and gets to the heart of the matter:

"Humanitarian relief is not going to solve Darfur's crisis; it's a way of keeping people alive until the genocidal policies of the Sudanese government are changed."

I don't know why, but somehow I have a sinking feeling that a year from now this situation still won't be under control. I realize that Saddam Hussein was a tyrant who terrorized his people, but I think that Darfur would have better deserved U.S. military intervention. I mean, if it is U.S. policy to "fix" all these countries that have problems, why aren't we doing more all over the world, instead of just Iraq? I guess there is no oil in Darfur.

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