Save Darfur

by Ilan Ben-Meir. [response to the article that precedes this]

There is no single issue more pressing in our world than the need to end the genocide in Darfur. While it may seem inane to suggest that a problem half the world away, on a continent as frequently ignored as Africa, is more important than the difficulties we face here at home, our reaction to Darfur is essential in deciding what role we see for America in the world. If you believe that America ought to be a force for good in the world, that it is our nation's responsibility to use its status as the world's sole superpower to effect positive change, and that an ally is always better than a foe, it is obvious that fighting to end the genocide is the right thing to do. If you're an isolationist, who believes that the rest of the world can go to hell as long as things are decent within our borders, helping Darfur would seem unnecessary. The question boils down to this: Do we as human beings have a responsibility to help our fellow man?
While comparisons to the Holocaust are usually ham-handed and exaggerated, they are appropriate here. On a distant continent, men, women, and children are being systematically murdered, not in war, but as part of a systematic effort to wipe out an entire race. Moreover, for the first years of the conflict, the United States wrapped itself in a ball of isolationism, choosing to turn away refugees and not commit wholehearedly to ending the violence. It was only after Pearl Harbor, six years into Hitler's persecution of Jews, that the united States committed troops to stopping him. If there is one lesson we learned from 9/11, it is that the world is too small now to define our borders narrowly. Unrest in the world translates to unrest at home. If the global community is suffering, the United States is no longer safe and isolated. While the problems we face domestically are certainly not nothing, it is my belief that addressing issues like credit card debt can wait until we have halted the murder of thousands. Even the existence of poverty, which ought to be unnacceptable to anyone who
has everenjoyed the opportunities available in our country, poses less of an immediate threat to the human race than the Sudanese genocide. It is only if we put our empathy behind our nationalism that we can turn a blind eye to Darfur.
I am a pacifist. I believe that war is rarely the answer to a problem, and almost never the only solution. However, it is my firm belief at this time that the united States must send ground troops into Sudan to immediately stop the killing. The Sudanese government has no motive, other than a desire to murder, for this genocide, and so it cannot be stopped through diplomacy. If you feel that the war in Iraq is enough war for one country, and that even if we wanted to enter Sudan, we lack the troops needed to do so, I say: Now we see the true cost of an unjust war. For our incorrect action in Iraq has made it difficult, if not impossible, to take necessary action in Sudan. Still, as the war in Iraq draws to its inexorable close, we must not retreat into a cocoon of isolationism, but rather remember our role as the greates force for good thius world has ever seen, and reclaim our standing in the world through our pursuit of justice. There is nothing petty or self-absorbed about wanting to save Darfur, although in saving Darfur we may just save ourselves. Rather, we must save Darfur because if we do not, America may lose its ability to do good in this world.