Darfur: More Than Black Oppression

The violence in the Darfur region of Sudan is anointed with the title genocide by the western media, so it is politically correct for the left to demand action. It is a testament to the power of labeling that this Muslin on Muslim killing is somehow morally different from its counterpoint in Iraq. Earlier this week a prominent Democratic Senator calls for the US to invade the country of Sudan. Red State captures my sentiment.

Joe Biden Is An Idiot: Put briefly, Biden is advocating a truly elective war in a place that has less than zero geopolitical value and where the best case outcome is a null set for us. He is advocating carrying out a war with no identifiable purpose that can be attained. He is advocating carrying out said war in a nation utterly bereft of anything even faintly resembling civic institutions or even civil society.

This latest call for action follows armed confrontation between Sudan and neighboring Chad which is raising concerns of the violence becoming regional.

Tensions rise on Chad, Sudan border: International efforts to clinch Khartoum's approval for UN peacekeepers in Darfur turned on Thursday into a scramble to contain rising tension between Chad and Sudan, following deadly border clashes. … Chadian troops chased rebels across the border with Sudan's war-torn Darfur region on Monday, sparking a battle with the Sudanese army. Khartoum said 17 of its troops were killed, while Chad reported about 30 killed on the two sides. The clash was one of the most serious of its kind since the start of the Darfur conflict between rebels and Khartoum's troops and allied Janjaweed militia more than four years ago.

Lest anyone believe the political entanglements in the region are less complex than Iraq, a quick overview is good. One significant factor in the internal Sudanese fighting results from a split in the National Islamic Front which seized Sudan and imposed Sharia on the country. The government of Omar al-Bashir is fighting tribal groups loyal to his former mentor Hassan Abdellah al-Turabi, the gentleman who invited and hosted al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden from 1991 to 1996. On the Chad side, President Idriss Deby seized power with the help of Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi who continues to meddle in the conflict. China, of course, is purchasing all the oil.

Gadhafi’s hand seen in Chad objections to UN force: Gadhafi, a critic of Western democracy and self-styled champion of African nationalism, has stepped up pressure on his southern neighbour, Chadian President Idriss Deby, to resist a planned U.N. military force for eastern Chad.

Darfur is not the American Civil War where good people need to go end black repression. Two backgrounds of the multifaceted conflict are The Islamist Manipulation of Darfur and Why Khartoum wants a war in Darfur. The roots of the violence go back years and military intervention will require long term occupation. If the left can not justify a long term commitment to the lands where our oil comes from and our enemies reside, then it is facetious to argue our obligation to stabilize China’s regional petrochemical depot.