[Peace-discuss] Darfur (and Gaza)

[C. G. Estabrook]

"Military intervention won’t stop the killing. Those who are clamouring 
for troops to fight their way into Darfur are suffering from a salvation 
delusion. It’s a simple reality that UN troops can’t stop an ongoing 
war, and their record at protecting civilians is far from perfect. 
Moreover, the idea of Bush and Blair acting as global moral arbiters 
doesn’t travel well. The crisis in Darfur is political. It’s a civil 
war, and like all wars it needs a political settlement..."

Full article at
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n23/waal01_.html

"Since March 1 the New York Times has run seventy news stories on Darfur 
(including sixteen pieces from wire services), fifteen editorials and 
twenty-one signed columns, all but one by Nicholas Kristof. Darfur is 
primarily a 'feel good' subject for people here who want to agonize 
publicly about injustices in the world but who don't really want to do 
anything about them...

"Now, Gaza is an entirely different story. The American public as well 
as the US government have a great deal of control over what is happening 
there. And it is Israel, America's prime ally in the Middle East that 
is, on a day-to-day basis, with America's full support, inflicting 
appalling brutalities on a civilian population. To report in any detail 
on what's going on in Gaza means accusing the United States of active 
complicity in terrible crimes wrought by Israel, as it methodically lays 
waste a society of 1.5 million Palestinians..."

Full article at
http://counterpunch.org/cockburn12042006.html

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