Last night at a Seder, we discussed the difficulty of accomplishing what so many on the left (as well as others of all political stripes) cry out for us to save Darfur. I share the sentiments of those who want to help the people in that troubled Sudanese province.
But, to help those people, we would have to defeat those oppressing them, the Sudanese government and the allied Janjaweed militias, the word defining those Arabic-speaking militants meaning, “a man with a gun on a horse.” In other words, they, like the Islamicist regime which supports them are armed.
Much as we would like, it doesn’t seem possible to stop these forces without some armed intervention. Would those who press the president to do something about Darfur support a military intervention similar to the one which toppled the oppressive regime of Saddam Hussein? Would they complain if we left too early before helping set up a government strong enough to protect its people from militias like the janjaweed and allied terrorist organizations eager to win back their power and/or establish an Islamicist regime?
Unfortunately, we may have to go to war to help the oppressed people of Darfur. While it would be better to resolve this diplomatically, the United States, the United Nations and other nations have tried for years to negotiated a solution.
War may not be the answer here, but it could well be part of the solution.
I wonder how many of those who sport the self-righteous little bumper stickers proclaiming, “War is Not the Answer” on their car, also have one demanding that we “Save Darfur.”
Right now, as we’re trying to stabilize Iraq, we’re doing more than waging war against the terrorists seeking to undermine the elected government. The Bush Administration (and those supporting its broad policy in Iraq) never thought war in an of itself would be the “answer” to a brutal dictator who oppressed his people and defied the mandates of the United Nations. It was just the first step to ridding the world of his menace.
War was not the answer there. And it shouldn’t be the answer, but sometimes it’s an essential part of the response to tyrants such as Saddam Hussein and militant organizations like the janjaweed.