Jimmy Carter has, over his lifetime, earned our respect on many issues. His moral authority makes his current statements about the Khartoum cabal all the more disappointing, offensive, arrogant and unconscionably ignorant. Darfur is still ablaze and looking more like Somalia by the day. Darfurians dream of returning home and rebuilding their lives but we are not there. Not by a long shot. Carter once called Omar al-Bashir, orchestrator of the on-going genocide in Darfur, a "courageous and enlightened leader" (for signing a worthless scrap of paper Carter had put forward, which was meaningless within weeks).
Villages are still ablaze, women are still running for their lives and being raped and mutilated, kids are still starving to death, the African Union peacekeepers are being attacked, more than four million people are still living in terror, 2.5 million are still sheltering in wretched camps across Darfur and eastern Chad, unable to return to their homelands because there is no safety in Darfur.
Lying is the least of President Omar al-Bashir's sins. Yet accompanying "the Elders" to Sudan, Jimmy Carter found his meeting with Bashir to be "constructive."
Sudan is "committed" to helping Darfur - report
Oct 3, 2007, 8:35 GMTKhartoum/Nairobi - Former US president Jimmy Carter, on a diplomatic mission to Sudan's Darfur region, said meetings with the Sudanese leader had been 'constructive' and that a 300-million-dollar infusion was promised to rebuild the troubled region, the BBC reported Wednesday.
Carter and three other members of a group of elder statesmen brought together by former South African president Nelson Mandela arrived to Darfur Tuesday after meetings with President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Monday, in a bid to solve the four-year conflict.
Carter told the BBC al-Bashir had promised 300 million dollars for the desperately impoverished and conflicted region the size of France - two-thirds of which would come from a loan from China.
The cash would 'help rebuild and repair the damage that has been done' in Darfur, Carter said, and that it was' a clear indication of (al-Bashir's) commitment,' the BBC reported.
Sudan has been charged with arming militias known as the janjaweed to crush an uprising by Darfur rebels who complained that the region remained poor and neglected.The conflict has since spiralled downward, with an ineffective peace agreement, rebel groups splintering and Arab tribes beginning to turn on each other. More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million forced from their homes since 2003.
The visit of the elders, which includes South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mozambican rights activist Graca Machel and veteran peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, coincided with a bloody attack on an African Union (AU) peacekeepers base in Darfur, which left 10 troops dead.
The AU has urged troop contributing countries not to withdraw because of the violent incursion.
A robust 26,000-strong hybrid UN-AU force is set to be deployed early next year and will absorb the ill-equipped AU force of 7,000.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
genocide, schmenocide...they are killing masses of people.
Quit wasting time on semantics. There are still those who don't believe the Holocaust happened.
Mia Farrow,
Do you know better? Do you know the role of the United States in fueling the violence in Sudan? If you don't I suggest you read these articles.
One is by Keith Harmon Snow at http://allthingspass.com/journalism.php?jid=165
The other is by F. William Engdahl at http://www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net/Geopolitics___Eurasia/Oil_in_Africa/oil_in_africa.html
By the way how come you are not concerned about the Congo, where many more people have been killed and/or raped? Is it because the United States, Europe and Israel benefit from the diamonds, other natural resources, and sales of weapons that the lives of these black Africans don't matter?
Carter's recent remarks on Darfur are dismaying.
Jimmy Carter, 10/4/07: "There is a legal definition of genocide and Darfur does not meet that legal standard. The atrocities were horrible but I don't think it qualifies to be called genocide. If you read the law textbooks ... you'll see very clearly that it's not genocide and to call it genocide falsely just to exaggerate a horrible situation I don't think it helps."
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnMCD351991.html
Jimmy Carter, 10/3/07: "Rwanda was definitely a genocide; what Hitler did to the Jews was; but I don't think it's the case in Darfur. I think Darfur is a crime against humanity, but done on a micro scale. A dozen janjaweed attacking here and there. ... I don't think the commitment was to exterminate a whole group of people, but to chase them from their water holes and lands, killing them in the process at random. I think you can call it ethnic cleansing."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-10-03-darfur-carter_N.htm
Some individuals and organizations who have declared the Darfur atrocities to be genocide:
Bush administration
Barack Obama
John Kerry
Hillary Clinton
Samantha Power (genocide expert)
International Association of Genocide Scholars
Physicians For Human Rights
Yad Vashem
Genocide Intervention Network
First of all what do the Jews have to do with Darfur. I believe this is China's expedition for oil, similar to expedition in Iraq, both policies are extremely deadly. That is the sad part.
Mia, I think your a wonderful human being, supporting your cause, but don't be to harsh on Jimmy Carter, at least he is trying, which is more than I can say for our current President, the gutless, useless wonder. At least he went there, just as he truly spoke out on the Palestinian issue, and they critisize him for telling the truth.
Lets not forget China in this role either, they won't step up to the plate in Burma either. Look what is happening there. Lets face it the whole world is in a mess, created by super powers, for the purpose of oil, money, greed. God must by crying and in his own time he will step up to the plate.
For most of my life since the age of around 15, I have been trying to figure why so many different countries dislike Jews. It seems unconscionable that so many would hate another group of people.
Any country one can think of " the Jew are despised by many of their inhabitants. Albeit, many love and respect the Jews " but the hatred is so uninspiring to me. I have studied this phenomenon and I think that I now have the answer: Jews are a people of their own interest wherever they are, they try to make the culture and society their domain - specifically for their self satisfaction. During the period (several hundred years) they wanted to be emancipated from the strict German way of life. They were German Jews, but the wanted only Jews to be emancipate " not all Germans. And the rest is history. I now know!
WOW! I never read anything so retarded as that!
Did you ever consider that it might be the Israel Govt. that the "Anti-semites" are against (regarding the middle-east)
Regarding Germany pre-WW2, Hitler used the Jews as a scapegoat for all the problems Germany had after their beat down in WW1.
Now look at you ContraAcc, you're attacking and scapegoating a group of people based on their Faith/Religion. Way to go... you'll go far in life with a little mustache and a crooked cross.
All of us placing comment here have not put our lives on the line the way Mia Farrow does. Whether or not we agree with what she does, or says, she is there, on the frontline, lending her visibility as a former actress to a cause. Those who, by hook and by crook, must drag Israel into the Darfur issue, clearly have an agenda, and it is NOT Darfur, or GENOCIDE. Those who speak of oil issues, apparently have not heard that there are other nations with oil issues, such as China. On the Palestinian issue, statements are made, again and again, in the UN and elsewhere. Discussions have been going on for sixty years. Concessions have been made. Money has been thrown at it. All that has NO PRACTICAL VALUE. There is already a separate Palestinian state that works, i.e. Jordan. The current discussions are about yet another separate Palestinian State. But, practically speaking, for a state to come into existence there must already be an infrastructure, a government worked out, cooperation, and most of all economic means for the people to support THEMSELVES. All that is not in placed and will never get into place. The issue is a few groups are enriching themselves at the expense of the population. Wages and salaries are dependent on the graciousness of other nations. The idea that for a nation to exist others must first be driven off the map and into the ocean is a new one, but, of course, it is not based on anything in the past, any economic or industrial theory that works, and we can see that in Gaza, which is a separate entity, and is not working, to put it very mildly.
ANSWERING PRAXITAS
Since the persecution of minorities in varying degrees is commonly practiced throughout the Moslem Middle East is Israel then hypocritical for not coming to the rescue of victimized Christians living in the West Bank, Gaza, Egypt and Saudi Arabia?
Why do you limit your concern to the Christian minority of Darfur when Arab Christians are being persecuted everywhere in the region?
And where is your outrage over the animating cause that underlies the Darfur crisis: ISLAMIC SUPREMACISM? The doctrine which is used to brainwash Moslems with the toxic belief in the absolute supremacy of their religion: that it is God's chosen faith for humanity and has a divine right to rule the world.
This insidious doctrine is embraced by the Islamic fundamentalist regime in Sudan and is the root cause of the current crisis.
In short, Darfur is inseparable from, and symptomatic of, this poisonous medieval belief. Your scapegoating of Israel is typical of her Mid East enemies who blame her for their self-caused problems, Darfur being one of them.
since you are unfamiliar with my views on religious extremism, it is misguided to presume one way or another on the boundaries of my concerns. if you look to extreme dictatorhips of misguided theocracies in the middle east for moral comparison, then you have by default surrendered any moral high ground. in any case i have always rejected the notion that the tragedy of the holocaust automatically imbues a nation (or even a people or individual) with some endless reserve of moral authority. moral authority can be squandered. how often are child molestation cases dropped on account of the perpetrators similar violation? i gave darfur and rwanda as examples. but there are others. israel was on the wrong side of moraility during the apartheid era, maintaining ties and supplying instruments of repression. also one author in the thread suggests that the government(?) (of israel or is it jewish groups) had been involved in attempting to turn the tide even b/4 the christian groups. (if it is jewish groups no credit to the state. i am sorry). to this i will say if it is true, then kudos, but i remind you that one of the criticisms of the catholic church and some other authorities or groups was that they should have been more forceful in their condemnation of nazi atrocities. the church claims it was working quietly behind the scenes.
my comments are born of dissapointment and a sense that i expect better of israel. do i expect more of the arab states? my expectations have never been high. you can make of that what you will. i will state that perenial bad behaviour and low expectations should not mitigate the punishment or consequences even for these states.
It's called diplomacy. It takes patience, rendering "respect" where none is deserved and creating a dialog, that could lead to peace. The Indian ambassador said on Charlie Rose the other night, that it takes time for governments to change, but we have to keep it evolving in the right direction. He also, said they respect their neighbors sovereignty and eventually the people will have their say and their way. But what he said (paraphrasing) is that it has to be the will of the people, first. We should have known that.
Perhaps Mr. Carter is trying to do that "diplomacy" thing. It's a pretty complex game and I can't pretend to understand it completely, but a lot of it centers on human nature and ways to pursuade difficult people to do the right thing. In a world where talk is cheap, it's a small risk to publicly describe Attila the Hun as a "great humanitarian" if by doing so he can be convinced to ease up on the oppression and chip in $300M for the relief effort. To decry him as a loathsome scalawag would most likely not get the same result.
Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu, and Nelson Mandela make for a pretty respectable team; they may not get it right every time, but their motives are not suspicious in any way. It's hard to find fault with people who sponsor and participate in peace brokering at an international level, and who have dedicated their lives to humanitarian causes. They could all be somewhere making money or lounging by the pool instead of engaging warlords in peace negotiations on behalf of people the rest of the world would like to ignore.
THE CHARGE OF HYPOCRISY
villastrangiato writes:
"Where are all the "never again" holocaust reminders on Darfur? Haven't heard anything out of the Israeli/Jewish lobby lately except - when are we gonna start WWIII with Iran. You wanna mobilize public opinion around Darfur, let's start with the hypocrits that have been building museums and holding vigils for the past 50 years - bemoaning the terrible things that were done to their ancestors"
Apollo says:
Your charge of hypocrisy against Israel is ludicrous. Israel is hardly indifferent to the human rights of Christians and animists-the two groups of infidels that are hounded and killed in Darfur for being non-Moslem; both groups are allowed to practice their religions in Israel without fear of persecution and genocide. Israel has been at the vanguard of the democratic and human rights revolution in the Middle East; it is the only nation in the region where minority rights are fully protected by law. When Israel says "NEVER AGAIN!" it is not just limited to its Jewish population but extends to all of its non-Jewish citizens. If this weren't so, If Israel persecuted its minorities, like the neighboring Palestinians harass Arab Christians as is done in Darfur, then and only then would your charge of hypocrisy have meaning.
AppoloSpeaks,
You don't even know what you are talking about.
The people of Darfur are Muslims, so it is Muslim on Muslim violence.
Oh, by the way is Israel concerned about the Christian black Africans of the Congo? The Congo is the country with the most killings and rapes, but I guess because Israel benefits the most from the diamond trade the suffering and deaths of these people doesn't matter. See this article about the Congo http://zmagsite.zmag.org/JulAug2007/snow.html
*the jewish lobby* does not advertise its good intermediary efforts. If you were jewish you would know that there have been jewish efforts at turning the tide in Darfur long before there were christian efforts to do so. Or, that may appear to me, because I get the jewish requests, and not the christian ones. The issue here, really, is not christians or jews. It is not even muslims. It is MURDER OF INNOCENTS. It is GENOCIDE. Mr. Carter wrote a book encouraging *da Palestinians* to go on as they have been with their suicide attacks until they get what they want. In doing so he lost any and all moral ground and voice. In my opinion, with Darfur, as with the Palestinian *cause* putting money into the effort to change things does not work. Making resolutions and public utterances does not work. The instigators *have a good thing going*. They get money to change their ways. Have you EVER heard that rewarding murder with money changes anything for the better? Or making concessions? As long as they keep this *game* up, they will get an income and a voice. We need to find a way to take their money away, their voice away, and put a stop to their murder. This has to come from inside the muslim community, the world over, because muslims, everywhere, are being tarred with the behavior of these murderous outlaws. They need to speak out, publicly. They need to take measures against these gangs of thugs. They are in their communities.
Let's see - "vanguard of human rights" - does that include:
Bulldozing the homes and olive groves of the FRIENDS AND RELATIVES of those suspected of engaging in terrorist activities
Or as one brave Israeli soldier recently acknowledged - invading the living rooms of Palestinians to set up surveillance on their neighborhhoods - kicking them out of their homes in the process - or worse yet, imprisoning and beating them if the protest.
Engaging in "target assassinations" in civilian neighborhoods with indiscriminate missile fire that kills scores of innocent women and children.
Sealing off cities, villages, and refugee camps for weeks - refusing to allow food and basic necessities in.
Forcing Palestinians to endure multiple checkpoint searches throughout the course of their daily lives.
Yeah, nice "vanguard of human rights" ya got there, Apollo. When the Israeli government and its right wing wackjob backers stop the atrocities - I'll believe your human rights vanguard bullshit. Until then, Israel is and has been one of the worst violators of UN resolutions and human rights in the world.
re "Your charge of hypocrisy against Israel is ludicrous. Israel is hardly indifferent to the human rights of Christians and animists-the two..."
the charges of hypocrisy remain. you raise a bunch of tangential issues. there was silince on rwanda and silence on darfur. the last i heard israel was either imprisoning the few that managed to make it to israel from darfur or tuning them back into the firing line of egyptian security thugs. it seems 'never again' means never again will this happen to us,rather than never again will we stand by and let this happen period, which is the wrong lesson. this wrong interpretation of the mantra does not even forbid israel from visiting similar tragedies upon some 'other'.
Former President Carter, "offensive" and "arrogant"?
It helps to be honest and fair in criticizing someone, Mr. Carter included; to be dishonest and unfair only disqualifies your criticism.
Mr. Carter is "offensive" and "arrogant"?
Perhaps you misunderstand the meanings of those words; the man is the antithesis of those things.
Mia, are you still pissed about the whole Carter-Brzezinski thing regarding Afghanistan? Call me, hon. It's been years.
CharliePfromHB , wave after wave of concerned citizens? I think that could work, about the time they exterminate the last Christian, they will agree not to do it any more and mean it!
Sort of like there are no gays in Iran.....right, because you kill the when you see them.
Jimmy was clueless in the Whitehouse, he's clueless out of the Whitehouse.
A brilliant mind enslaved to radical left wing believes which cause him to do really stupid things.
Now where's my sweater?
dont they have lots of oil there? why have we not invaded?
do you think most americans care about others?
wake up how many americans care about the iraqis we are killing?
they are only mad that we are losing the war not the destruction of iraq for corporate america.
most americans dont even care for other americans ie 50 million without health care.
unchecked capitalism has created a culture of me me and only me greed is good society now based on imperialism.
even most of the dems are into imperialism big time.
Mia and Jimmy
The world needs you on the same page. Jimmy, I
believe your comments about al-Bashir's intentions is to put him on point regarding that committment.
Mia, your reasons to distrust any committment of al-Bashir is certainly warranted. Perhaps if wave after wave of concerned world citizens keep the pressure on the Sudan, the UN, China, et al, the rape and murder of Darfur's people will be reduced. What I've read said that notes were passed to the elders regarding what is happening as of right now. Your sense of urgency is surely justified.
What would be great is a collaboration amoung all those whose hearts are in the right place. Meanwhile we should all contibute to the IRC and others while pressuring China, the US et al
to stop the insanity.
Mark Wahlberg is not a fan of a "Saturday Night Live" sketch from October 4th called "Mark Wahlberg Talks...
E&P reports that Sarah Palin was greeted with a chorus of boos at the Philadelphia Flyers game where she...
This week in the best of...
At a rally in Bethlehem, Pa. last week, Cindy...
Imagine an election where one of the participants...
Does John McCain "pal around with terrorists?" Certainly...
The state of the McCain campaign is drawing fire from its own ostensible allies....
With the presidential campaign approaching its final...
Tina Fey told TVGuide she'll be "done" if John McCain and...
**SCROLL DOWN FOR SLIDESHOW** It looks like Sarah Palin has traded her...
Now that a full-scale economic crisis is upon us, many are left asking the complicated but necessary...
I don't know if Sarah would be into trying yoga. It can be a fairly...
PORTERVILLE, Calif. — National forests and parks _ long popular...
Loading comments…
Posted October 3, 2007 | 11:54 AM (EST)