Senator Feingold Speaks Out on Darfur

No situation in the world shows the emptiness of Bush's rhetoric about democracy and peace than his failure to deal with the genocide in Darfur. It's not always easy to know what to do in world affairs but Bush took forever to even acknowledge there was a problem. Senator Feingold has been speaking about Darfur repeatedly:

The situation in Darfur is dire and tragic. More than two years have elapsed since the U.S. Government labeled the atrocities being committed against innocent civilians as genocide, and yet the killing has continued and accelerated in recent weeks as the Government of Sudan has launched a new military offensive.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Congress hasn’t been able to act on this issue. Leaders like Senator Brownback and others here today have tried; many of us have worked hard to draw attention to this issue here in Washington. We must take specific and concrete actions now if we want to help stop the genocide occurring in Darfur.

First, the United States must work directly to support the courageous but inadequate African Union peacekeeping force that has been doing its best to protect the people of Darfur for more than two years. It needs serious help, though, if it’s going to protect innocent civilians. We’re not talking a few million dollars here or there. The AU needs serious assistance, and we need to be prepared to look at all of our options, including support from NATO.

Feingold goes on to say more. It should be noted that a few Republican members of Congress are concerned about the Darfur situation but they can't seem to get through to the Republican leadership which is too busy checking in on major donors to the Republican party. I don't know what the full answer is but the war in Iraq is completely tying down our military and Bush has no solutions except to increasingly ignore other problems around the world.