By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

One week after thirteen international aid organizations were expelled from Darfur, and one day after President Obama named Former General J. Scott Gration as a special envoy to Sudan, Congressman Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said that military options to stop the genocide should not be ruled out. These military options could come to fruition as a no-fly zone. McGovern hopes the Obama administration’s diplomacy can prevail, but went on to say that time is running out and that Obama should work with NATO, the African Union, and the Arab League to stop the violence immediately, since more people are dying each day.

The Congressman said, “What we have done up to this point has not worked.” He said that genocide, violence, and rape are continuing, and now the government is “going to starve people to death.” McGovern went on to say that the Sudanese government is “determined to kill the people of Darfur” and drew similarities between the situation and the Holocaust

The Save Darfur Coalition said that since the aid organizations were expelled by President Omar al-Bashir, approximately 1.1 million civilians have been left without food aid, 1.5 million without health care, and almost 1 million without drinking water. In the crisis at large, the United Nations states that since 2003 over 200,000 people have been killed, and over 2 million people have been displaced.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir expelled the aid organizations after being indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. Congressman Jim Moran (D-Va.) charged, “this expulsion of aid workers further confirms the legitimacy of the indictment,” and that the president is guilty as charged.

Congressman Chris Smith (R-N.J.) continued that he thinks there is no “political will” right now to send more troops into harm’s way considering America’s presence in Iraq and Afghanistan and feels that African Union forces should be left to do the job. African Union troops have unsuccessfully tried to quell the violence in the past. Smith said he believes a renewed effort by the African Union forces will yield better results.

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

Congressman Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said today that although he hopes diplomacy can work to stop the genocide in Darfur, he thinks that a military option should be on the table. He thinks this military option could take the form of a no-fly zone. (01:43)

 

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Jay Goodman Tamboli speaks with Rabbi Gary Greenebaum, American Jewish Committee’s U.S. Director of Interreligious Affairs, about the reversal of the excommunication of Bishop Richard Williamson, a holocaust denier. (9:05)

 

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Astonishingly, it has been 20 years since the attacks on Halabja, carried by the former dictator, Saddam Hussein.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Leadership Council of Human Rights jointly organized a commemorational ceremony for the 20th anniversary of the atrocities carried out by the former Iraqi dictatorship at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s dining hall.

The hall was filled with the soft sound of sez (traditional Middle Eastern musical instrument) echoing in the background, pictures of mothers holding their dying kids, bruised babies dead by the river; father’s crying on the side of their dying kids’ beds and the list goes on.
Kathryn Cameron Porter, founder and president of Leadership Council of Human Rights, and Qubad Talibani, son of the Iraqi President and representative of the KRG in the United States, both talked about the importance of remembering such a horrific day. Talibani mentioned that March is a bitter sweet month for the Kurds. It was in the same month that the world experienced the fall of the Hussein regime, that regime that killed thousands of innocent people.

Some 5000 Kurds were massacred at a small town, called Halabja, at the northern region of Iraq. The former dictator attacked the town with gas bombs, planning on eliminating the Kurds from “his” own territory. The country was in war against Iran then and the idea of killing innocent people would have been considered justifiable; yet another “we were in war” excuse. Most of the survivors fled to Iran and found shelter there.

Mohammed Aziz, a 43-year-old survivor explained the horrific activities of that cold Thursday in March. He was with his family eating lunch when six planes started bombarding Halabja. Their first reaction was to run to the basement, as did all the other families. This lasted couple of minutes; however they remained sheltered at the basement for another few hours. Thinking that the planes had gone, everyone started fleeing from their basements and running towards the borders, that is when the deadliest attacks happened. The planes were back, but this time filled with poisonous chemicals. People were losing their eye sights, were having chest pains and were acting hysterically. This was the start of the range of “slow deaths.”

Halabja is only one of the numerous massacres of the twentieth century. The Armenians, Ukrainians, the Holocaust, Kurds, Rwandans and now the people of Darfur have all experienced the non-humane acts of their fellow neighbors. When will the cycle of genocide end? History repeats itself no matter what the circumstances are; Darfur is a great proof of the latter.