With the bush administration’s 2008 budget asking for $245 billion just for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the problem of genocide and the rule of law in Sudan left Senators asking, “What can the U.S. do about that?”
At the inaugural hearing of the judiciary human rights and the law subcommittee on Monday, at least one answer seemed clear: certainly not provide military or financial support.
“Do you always want to set yourselves up?” asked panelist Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire, when Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse asked what would be the best way for the United States to resolve the ongoing crisis in Darfur.
Why let other countries assume that the U.S. will take the lead role in stifling this conflict, continued Dallaire, a senator in the Parliament of Canada and former commander of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Rwanda, when countries are just as capable.
“Because somebody’s got to stop the logjam,” Whitehouse retorted defensively.
Then “create the initiative to bring those other beavers out,” Dallaire answered.
Dallaire said sending American forces to the Northeastern African country “would not be a smart move,” noting the religious component of the conflict.
What the United States should do, he argued, is use its political leverage to prompt other “beavers”— middle powers suchs as Germany or Japan—to take the lead. “There’s a gang out there that’s not pulling its weight,” Dallaire said.
With 44,000 troops and the resources to provide strategic sustainability, the conflict could be addressed properly, according to Dallaire. “All that is missing is the political will of sovereign states to put troops there.” he said.
The panelists at the hearing also urged the Senators to use more political muscle with larger powers that could impact the region economically, namely China and Russia. Dallaire referred to the two countries as the “scavengers of Africa.”
Subcommittee Chairman Sen. Dick Durbin pointed out that 85 percent of Sudan’s foreign revenue is from oil, and the industry is dominated by three major oil companies—owned by China, India and Malaysia.
So even with the United States’ military and financial resources tied up in other regions, the panelists argued, something still could be done. However, they said that resolving the crisis is not a matter of what can the U.S. can do, but rather what the U.S. and other countries will do.
“The essence of it is do we believe these humans count,” Dallaire said.
Actor and activist Don Cheadle, who was also a panelist at the hearing, said words like “genocide” and phrases such as “Never Again” were simply insulting, empty rhetoric when used in reference to Darfur.
“Do the small tributaries of information trickled to us by the GOS about terrorists trump the taking of innocent men, women and children's lives?” he asked. “Where mass atrocities are concerned, we are all bark and no bite.”
