Rwanda Redux In Darfur

Exhibit A is this op-ed in the Guardian by Colin Powell. [How on earth did Colin Powell end up writing in the Guardian?--ed.] Nothing Powell says is particularly objectionable, but the two salient facts are that something aggressive needs to be done immediately and the Bush administration doesn't have a clue what to do. Powell writes that "Only actions, not words, can win the race against death in Darfur," and this is a noble sentiment, but for public officials speech can be action. It takes a certain sort of courage, I suppose, for the sitting Secretary of State in a Republican administration to write an opinion piece in a leftist British newspaper, but where has Bush himself been on this? He should be in the United Nations right now demanding action to prevent genocide. He should be on television informing the American people of the situation (note: he should refrain from making any unsupportable assertions, however). Instead Powell thinks it's sufficient to draft a UN Security Council resolution "calling upon the government of Sudan to immediately fulfill all of the commitments it has made to end the violence and give access to aid workers and international monitors." Remember that presidential radio address where Bush lobbied for the Hate Amendment? Could he have spared a word or two about Darfur?

That brings me to exhibit B, via Instapundit. According to Human Rights Watch, the Sudanese government itself is behind the atrocities. Somehow, I think any UN resolution calling on Sudan to fulfill its commitments will be met with all the predictable excuses, and the UN, not wishing to spoil a perfect record, will back down.