NATO AIR
Senior Member
A few quick points if I may
France indeed has economic interests in Sudan that normally would preclude them taking a stand on the issue. However, in the past year, French foreign policy has become more pragmatic and more in line with US aims (i.e. on Iran, North Korea and Darfur). Thus, France supports the ICC warrants, France supports a UN peacekeeping force in Darfur, etc etc.
France is especially concerned now because of the aims Sudan seems to have on the Francophone nation of Chad, which the Sudanese regime seems intent on destablizing in order to finish the job of killing and maiming rebellious tribes in Darfur.
The US does not need to invade Darfur or Sudan.
A no-fly zone led by a small USAF/NATO contingent and based out of Chad could eliminate the aerial bombing and strafing of villages.
A special ops mission to capture leading Janjaweed leaders (this is not an urban hell hole like Mogadishu, but a vast desert where many of them are out in the open) and bring them before the ICC would also be highly useful.
A US diplomatic effort to get all the tribes together would do wonders for hopes for peace or stability of some sort. Most of the tribes want this madness to end, its the regime and a few extremist tribes that are continuing the killing.
Leaving it to the UN invites further disaster. We have a moral obligation to address some of the worst crimes that unfold on this Earth. How else could we live with ourselves and answer to God in the end?
Proponents of greater involvement are not asking for war or invasion, but for a limited, well-calibrated campaign to capture/kill some baddies and help push peace and stability.
I have become privy to and on one occasion witnessed the heroic attempts of Navy and Army doctors and medics to set up a field clinic in Chad to help refugees, as well as drunk many beers with marines and soliders like GunnyL who feel something should be done. War and violence is not to be taken lightly but there is at some point a limit to what a normal human being can bear to watch and be aware of without reacting.
France indeed has economic interests in Sudan that normally would preclude them taking a stand on the issue. However, in the past year, French foreign policy has become more pragmatic and more in line with US aims (i.e. on Iran, North Korea and Darfur). Thus, France supports the ICC warrants, France supports a UN peacekeeping force in Darfur, etc etc.
France is especially concerned now because of the aims Sudan seems to have on the Francophone nation of Chad, which the Sudanese regime seems intent on destablizing in order to finish the job of killing and maiming rebellious tribes in Darfur.
The US does not need to invade Darfur or Sudan.
A no-fly zone led by a small USAF/NATO contingent and based out of Chad could eliminate the aerial bombing and strafing of villages.
A special ops mission to capture leading Janjaweed leaders (this is not an urban hell hole like Mogadishu, but a vast desert where many of them are out in the open) and bring them before the ICC would also be highly useful.
A US diplomatic effort to get all the tribes together would do wonders for hopes for peace or stability of some sort. Most of the tribes want this madness to end, its the regime and a few extremist tribes that are continuing the killing.
Leaving it to the UN invites further disaster. We have a moral obligation to address some of the worst crimes that unfold on this Earth. How else could we live with ourselves and answer to God in the end?
Proponents of greater involvement are not asking for war or invasion, but for a limited, well-calibrated campaign to capture/kill some baddies and help push peace and stability.
I have become privy to and on one occasion witnessed the heroic attempts of Navy and Army doctors and medics to set up a field clinic in Chad to help refugees, as well as drunk many beers with marines and soliders like GunnyL who feel something should be done. War and violence is not to be taken lightly but there is at some point a limit to what a normal human being can bear to watch and be aware of without reacting.