I follow Darfur on a daily basis, then I read this and I have a question...

I just have to wonder if we as a country would have done more if we were not tied up in Iraq. What do you think? Would we have gone in with US troops if we hadn't invaded Iraq?

The tragedy in Darfur is not getting better...in fact, it is getting worse...this after the U.N. has 'tried' to intervene! What is happening? Africans, who have lived for decades on their land as farmers, are being killed, tortured, raped and driven out by nomad Arabs... The conflict follows years of low-level fighting between Arab nomads and African farming communities. The rebels took up arms in 2003, accusing the government of neglect and giving preferential treatment to Arab tribes. They also accuse Khartoum of arming Arab militia, known as Janjaweed, to loot and burn non-Arab villages. Khartoum denies links to the Janjaweed. Egeland estimated there were now 1.8 million displaced people, compared to 1.2 million in mid-2004, and that 400,000 people were missing out on humanitarian aid due to security problems. The Washington Times relays: Despite all the noise made by the United Nations Security Council and the Bush administration, and despite the recently signed deal between the Khartoum regime and south-based rebels, the trend lines for Darfur are getting uglier. The international response remains confused, inadequate, timid and criminally negligent. Ethnic cleansing by the Sudanese government continues right under our eyes and for some reason the world continues to stand idly by. WTF! Will SOMEBODY please explain this to me!! DR

[Desert Rat Ramblings]