By Ellen Ratner

As I sit here writing this column from the oil rich Middle East, I am reflecting on the political oil wars that we are hearing so much about from President Bush, Congress and the presidential candidates. Yet, no matter our favorite party, branch of government or candidate, the whole story is not being told.

During the last week in April, there were press briefings galore in Congress with words and accusations flying everywhere. The price of oil is killing our economy, small airlines are folding and larger ones are laying off employees or trying to merge. Trucks and their drivers are parading around the Capitol on a daily basis, honking horns and making it clear that it is difficult to survive with the gas prices so high.

The Democrats want the president to stop adding to the strategic oil reserve, which is 97 percent full. So far the president has not budged. The Democrats figure that it could save Americans 5 to 24 cents per gallon. Their plan put forward in four congressional bills includes holding OPEC accountable for price fixing (HR 2264), cracking down on gas price gouging (HR 1252), repealing subsidies to oil companies, investing in renewables (HR 5351) and developing new mileage standards (HR 6).

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Gaza:

UN has begun to deliver fuel. The food situation is still a problem. The Secretary General condemns the Israeli attack and also Hamas.

Afghanistan:

The Secretary General congratulated the Afghan Forces on the quick reaction to the attempted murder on President Karzai.

Lebanon:

The Secretary General remains upset that assassinations and attempts continue.

Iraq:

Concern about the sharing of natural resources. The UN presence is increasing in various areas of Iraq.
The Under Secretary Lynn Pascoe briefed the Security Council this morning

The Secretary General:

The Secretary General is in Europe and is addressing global warming and the food crises.

Congo:

There is a BBC report on misbehavior and arms trafficking of the Peacekeepers in Congo. The UN believes that the report is based on information of three years ago.
The UN questions the sources because of that and the fact that several were imprisoned by the UN. The BBC has questioned the report and the internal investigation that the UN did. OIOS is an independent arm of the UN, and they did the report.

Zimbabwe:

The situation will be discussed informally. Lynn Pascoe is briefing them tomorrow.

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Briefer: Dana Perino
By: Ellen Ratner

Schedule:

The President had a private meeting with the King of Jordan in the dining room off the Oval Office. On the King’s visit, Dana said that the President had lots vested in mideast peace talks and that it was good that leaders could talk frankly with the President. He had his usual briefings and then will give the Medal of Honor to Dr. DeBakey. Later he has a photo op with Johns Hopkins donors, and then he will give the Baldridge Award.

Taxes:

The White House wants people to know that it is important for every taxpayer to fill out 1040A form so that they will get a stimulus rebate. This is available for anyone who makes $3,000 plus per year.

North Korea and the Syrians:

Dana said that they would continue to brief members of Congress on national intelligence.

Equal Pay Bill:

Dana would not comment on the bill or if the President would veto as she said they might not be able to get the votes for cloture in the Senate.

Pakistan:

Dana would not comment on reports that the Pakistani government is working with the Taliban militants. She said however that they are “concerned about these types of approaches.”

President’s Remarks Yesterday on Economy:

Dana said that we don’t know what this period is yet and we do not have the data yet, and that the President wants more robust growth in the country.

Farm Bill:

There may be a push for a one-year extension if they can’t get it done.

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By Ellen Ratner

This past Sunday was Easter, arguably the most peaceful, joyous and hopeful celebration in all of Christendom.

As I glance outside my window, I can see the props of our wealthy civilization: Tall, sleek, buildings of glass and steel, late model automobiles, paved roads and stores offering an abundance of all that that makes life long, good and easy. Yet about one week ago on Palm Sunday, I looked out and saw something else. That day found me in a small village in southern Sudan. And what I saw were buildings of dried grass and open roofs, filled with people, some of whom did not resemble the people I see on the street today – they wore rags, not their Easter Sunday best. And these rags contained men, women and, heartbreakingly, children – so many, many children – who resembled only caricatures of human beings: Malnourished and stick thin, whose tight flesh hosted open, running and sometimes what might be gangrenous sores. Mothers’ breasts were dry; fathers and older male children were too weak to gather food that simply wasn’t there anyway.

These were the bodies of starvation and the faces of suffering. On Palm Sunday, I was in Southern Darfur.

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Ellen Ratner, calling in from Dubai after leaving Southern Darfur, says the whole issue is slavery. The government of Sudan refuses to call it slavery, and instead calls the “abductees.” Slavery is illegal in Sudan, Ellen says, as there is a law passed by the British. However, there is no punishment for slavery and no mechanism to punish slave-holders. There’s been a group that brings back these “abductees,” she says, but they are being sent back with nothing- no food, supplies, or financial support. They just rely on the kindness of villagers, and the government of Khartoum has done nothing, Ellen says, to make sure that the people from the south can recovery from slavery. This may make war in the south inevitable when the vote comes in 2011 or after for independence. (1:19)

 

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Ellen Ratner, calling in from Dubai after leaving Southern Darfur, says they met with refugees and some slaves on Monday. The slaves, she says, left Northern Sudan and were returning to their homes. One refugee who had been a slave, she says, was recognized by another former slave who had the same tribal markings. This slave had been converted to Islam and had children, and the slave’s master was very upset that the children were going. Apparently the Islamic way, Ellen says, is that the woman is still held in slavery but her children are considered children of the master. The master was very upset, she says, that the government of Sudan was allowing his children to go with their mother. (1:18)

 

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Ellen Ratner tells the pain of a freed slave’s life, and the hope of returning to her family. (1:15)

 

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Ellen Ratner describes the freeing of slaves on the border of Darfur. Some slaves are simply killed rather than sold, and even those that are freed often do not understand their freedom, not having known any other life. (1:52)

 

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On location in the South Sudan, in a very isolated place called Majom Kor, Ellen Ratner says she is is a village where people from Darfur and other areas have come back to their villages, courtesy of the United Nations. They were told stories of how the people were able to escape to the north or were taken as slaves, although there has been little international recognition that there was slavery at all. One man told them, she says, that the slaves were kept in a pen for seven days without food and water. At this point after all these years away, she says that man told her, the village needs food, clean water, and a health facility. As they were meeting with the villagers today, Ellen said, an unclothed woman came through. The villagers quickly surrounded her, Ellen said, and told her that the woman had been traumatized by rape and that she had seen so many of her relatives killed, that this was her way of coping. The villagers told her the needs that they hoped Americans would give: they had no school, no clinics, no books, no pencils, no paper, and no clean water. That is the need, Ellen says, that is so strong in Southern Sudan.
(1:40)

 

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On location in the South Sudan, in a very isolated place called Majom Kor, Ellen Ratner says it is an amazing scene. The people that left their villages and went to Darfur, Ellen says, are being dropped off to their home villages without food or much at all. They talked about their needs, she says, and how their houses were burned down, and their cattle were taken, and how they had no food and had to leave. They are being repatriated in their home communities. They talked to refugees that were coming back from Darfur, she said, and when she asked them how many of them had a relative that had been killed or had been enslaved, every one of them raised their hand. (1:24)

 

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