The situation in Sudan is actually quite complex. The current genocide, as well as I understand it, pits muslim against muslim in the north; a civil war with Christians and animists has only recently been concluded (but could flare up again) in the south. An intervention wouldn't be aimed at making a sudan democracy or any of the other bull that usually spouts from our leaders' lips. It would be simply about preventing the mass rapes and ethnic cleansing now happening from recurring. Oh, and if they stopped the slave trade that is still happening in Sudan, that would be nice too.
The exit strategy would be straightforward: pull out all troops out the minute the parties were separated and import peacekeepers--preferably from Africa or from muslim countries. The Sudanese people will have to sort out the politics themselves.
Jo Ellen
-----Original Message----- From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org]On Behalf Of Yoshie Furuhashi Sent: Wednesday, May 03, 2006 2:46 PM To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] MPug Rats Out Yoshie To Cooper
On 5/3/06, Jo Ellen Green Kaiser <jgkaiser at earthlink.net> wrote:
> I wouldn't overthink the relationship to Darfur and Jews of all stripes.
As
> the Judaism editor over at Tikkun (OK--don't rip me for that) I've been
> talking to lots of Jews on the left about Darfur. They are plain and
simple
> outraged at the massacre there. They feel it's a second Rwanda. And Jews
> still feel the prick of conscience about stopping genocides....
>
> If you don't think the US should have intervened in Rwanda, you are an
> isolationist and I can respectfully disagree. But I, for one, am for
> preventing genocide.
>
> Would I rather see a country's neighbors/close allies help them work out
the
> issues? Yes, but in the case of Sudan, Chad and Ethiopia are not, well,
that
> stable themselves, and Sudan's best buddies in the Muslim world have got
> other fish to fry.
>
> Would I rather see an international body led by some progressive country
> with no interests in Sudanese oil lead the intervention? Sure, but I don't
> see Denmark stepping up to the plate. I'm a U.S. citizen, so I'm going to
> pressure the U.S., which is the biggest contributor to the UN, to do
> something: preferably, to pressure the UN to send peacekeepers there.
I have to wonder if Jewish leaders aren't re-living a failed fantasy of Iraqi liberation with a Jewish psychological twist: here's a group of Muslims who are grateful to Jews -- what a sweetly refreshing change! There is enough reality to this fantasy now -- for instance, many exiles from Sudan must be no doubt grateful and thanking Jewish leaders profusely (just as Iraqi exiles expressed gratitude to and thanked the Bush administration). But once Washington does send troops to Sudan, I don't think that Muslims in Sudan (or other Muslims) will be grateful to US troops or Jewish leaders or anyone else who has taken part in this campaign (especially considering Sudan's political makeup). And if I suspect that Muslim anger and resentment is likely to be especially targeted on Jews, I don't think I'm too prejudiced against Muslims. The reality is that there are lots of reactionary Islamists in Sudan, they tend be prejudiced against Jews, and Sudan has porous borders, an ideal candidate for a new jihad central. -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>
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