A Letter From An Elderly Religious Aid Worker In Darfur

[NATO AIR]

this was sent via e-mail to me by my former chaplain, Lt. Cmdr. Cedric Hunter, now deployed in Iraq but still a fervent supporter of intervention in Darfur. The letter is from an elderly aid worker from rural Georgia, who has interrupted his retirement to venture to the border area of Chad alongside Darfur. He was with the Navy Seabees active duty and as a contractor for decades and went to the Darfur region to assist in the cultivating of water sources and the construction of aid camps.

Dear Pres. Bush and Jesus Christ,
In all my 80 years on this blessed Earth, I have never witnessed anything close to what I see today. I have been to numerous Pacific islands ravaged by war, to Korea, to Vietnam and even to Lebanon. I have seen horrible things, but nothing so terrible as these I now bear witness to today. I have never been at such a loss, so here I am, writing to the most powerful man on the Earth and his savior, my savior and humanity's savior.
There are young boys here who have had their eyes cut out with pure malice by the same men who raped their mothers and slit their throats. Their fathers have been rounded up, shot and buried in wells, burning homes and once bountiful fields. Their sisters have been raped by many men, and impregnated by them for the purpose of wiping their race off the face of the Earth. I cry, I hold a hand to my heart and a hand to my Bible, and I pray.
We do not have enough food to feed the starving. We do not have enough medicine to heal the dying. We try mightily, but too many die before we can reach them to pray with them. Moslems most are, but they pray with us when they can, they lie back, clasp their hands with us and with all their remaining strength, pray to the Creator of All for peace and support. I cry, I hold a hand to my heart and a hand to my Bible, and I pray.
I ventured with a Frenchman, a South African and a woman from Mexico and we were able to go inside Darfur itself, in order to assist other aid groups to find sources of water. I witnessed in one burned out village, children whose heads had been cut off and their bodies stacked up, then burned by men with turbans and flowing white robes. These are the militiamen, the janjaweed, and they celebrate their slaughter by dancing and congratulating themselves. They made no action to hide or disguise their slaughter, they ignored our shock and celebrated on. I cry, I hold a hand to my heart and a hand to my Bible, and I pray.
I have to leave the region now. It has been two months and my wife is badly sick at home in Georgia. I leave behind the dying, the suffering, the ravaged, the raped and the abandoned. I make one last effort to find something good here. I see it instantly, the blind boy reaching for his pregnant sister's hand and finding it. He holds it lovingly across his cheek, then kneels with her as both pray. These survivors are strong, honorable people who are being wiped off the face of the Earth. My president, my savior, what can we do for them? For now, I wipe my tears. I only know to hold a hand to my heart and a hand to my Bible, and I pray.

Thomas Boyd

 

[Bullypulpit]

this was sent via e-mail to me by my former chaplain, Lt. Cmdr. Cedric Hunter, now deployed in Iraq but still a fervent supporter of intervention in Darfur. The letter is from an elderly aid worker from rural Georgia, who has interrupted his retirement to venture to the border area of Chad alongside Darfur. He was with the Navy Seabees active duty and as a contractor for decades and went to the Darfur region to assist in the cultivating of water sources and the construction of aid camps.

Unfortunately, Dubbyuh doesn't seem to be inclined to do anything.

 

[NATO AIR]

Unfortunately, Dubbyuh doesn't seem to be inclined to do anything.

yep, neither was kerry... remember their shameful debate performance together on this issue?

 

[wade]

No profit to be had. No strategic or tactical value. Oh well.

 

[jimnyc]

No profit to be had. No strategic or tactical value. Oh well.

You guys always claim we need the world behind us. We should pass the 'global test'. Who else is stepping up to the plate and entering Darfur?

 

[NATO AIR]

You guys always claim we need the world behind us. We should pass the 'global test'. Who else is stepping up to the plate and entering Darfur?

we do not need the world behind us, we need "right" with us. if what we are doing is just, then no nation can stop us.

the test is this... a government is using rape, maiming and murder to wipe out more than a million people who are the wrong skin color and on the wrong land, will anyone stand up for justice and stop this madness?

genocide is happening, so far the UN, EU and the rest of the world is failing the test. will the US?

 

[wade]

we do not need the world behind us, we need "right" with us. if what we are doing is just, then no nation can stop us.

the test is this... a government is using rape, maiming and murder to wipe out more than a million people who are the wrong skin color and on the wrong land, will anyone stand up for justice and stop this madness?

genocide is happening, so far the UN, EU and the rest of the world is failing the test. will the US?

I hope the USA will step in and end the genocide and make an example of the evil doers. My point is that there is little profit to the USA, either in terms of $'s or strategic/tactical position in doing so, and therefore I doubt we will take more than a very limited action in Darfur if any. I suspect that we will insist that this be an international effort and if the UN and EU refuse to act, so will we.

What we should do is send at least 5,000 troops into Darfur with helecopter support and clean it out. We should have done this months ago, but today is better than never.

 

[5stringJeff]

I hope the USA will step in and end the genocide and make an example of the evil doers. My point is that there is little profit to the USA, either in terms of $'s or strategic/tactical position in doing so, and therefore I doubt we will take more than a very limited action in Darfur if any. I suspect that we will insist that this be an international effort and if the UN and EU refuse to act, so will we.

What we should do is send at least 5,000 troops into Darfur with helecopter support and clean it out. We should have done this months ago, but today is better than never.

Your hypocrisy is blinding. Are you really saying that it's OK for the US to go alone in Darfur to save suffering civilians, but it wasn't OK to go into Iraq alone (though it wasn't alone) to save suffering civilians?

 

[jimnyc]

Your hypocrisy is blinding. Are you really saying that it's OK for the US to go alone in Darfur to save suffering civilians, but it wasn't OK to go into Iraq alone (though it wasn't alone) to save suffering civilians?

I was going to reply with the exact same thing until I read your post. Of course you know he'll come back with a lame response about WMD. I also assume he believes there was a 'profit to be had' in Iraq. I would love to see how we are profiting.

 

[wade]

Your hypocrisy is blinding. Are you really saying that it's OK for the US to go alone in Darfur to save suffering civilians, but it wasn't OK to go into Iraq alone (though it wasn't alone) to save suffering civilians?

No, I'm saying the USA going into Dafur to save suffering civilians is totally different than the USA going into Iraq to pursue it's own intrests.

Please get off the "we are in Iraq for the good of the Iraqi people". That is so obviously not true its not even humorous.

If we were to go into Dafur to stop the suffering, it might actually lend a little credibility to the argument for Iraq.

 

[jimnyc]

Please get off the "we are in Iraq for the good of the Iraqi people". That is so obviously not true its not even humorous.

I'm sorry, you are an idiot.

 

[wade]

I'm sorry, you are an idiot.

Jimmy,

We were not worried about Saddam's bloodletting when we considered him to be "our friend". We turned a blind eye to his use of chemical weapons both against Iran and his own people. We ignored his mass killings through the late 70's and 80's and right up until he invaded Kuwait. In fact, we effectively supported his actions.

To argue that we are in Iraq because we love the Iraqi people and want them to be free is the pure BULLSHIT. We are there because Bush believes its in our best intrests to be there, pure and simple.

Please, don't be a hippocrite.

 

[jimnyc]

Jimmy,

We were not worried about Saddam's bloodletting when we considered him to be "our friend". We turned a blind eye to his use of chemical weapons both against Iran and his own people. We ignored his mass killings through the late 70's and 80's and right up until he invaded Kuwait. In fact, we effectively supported his actions.

To argue that we are in Iraq because we love the Iraqi people and want them to be free is the pure BULLSHIT. We are there because Bush believes its in our best intrests to be there, pure and simple.

Please, don't be a hippocrite.

First off, idiot, learn how to spell. Secondly, you are a fucking disgrace to every soldier that's there risking their lives to assist the Iraqi citizens.

Why is our military currently entering Fallujah? Is there hidden oil in there maybe? Maybe some hidden cash? They know there will be loss of life engaging Fallujah and yet they go forward anyway. They are doing so for the Iraqi people.

Whatever reasons the US had in the past for assisting Saddam does not negate our current actions.

 

[5stringJeff]

No, I'm saying the USA going into Dafur to save suffering civilians is totally different than the USA going into Iraq to pursue it's own intrests.

Please get off the "we are in Iraq for the good of the Iraqi people". That is so obviously not true its not even humorous.

If we were to go into Dafur to stop the suffering, it might actually lend a little credibility to the argument for Iraq.

I'm not saying that the suffering of the Iraqi people was the primary reason we went into Iraq. But it certainly was a reason, and a benefit.

 

[wade]

First off, idiot, learn how to spell. Secondly, you are a fucking disgrace to every soldier that's there risking their lives to assist the Iraqi citizens.

Why is our military currently entering Fallujah? Is there hidden oil in there maybe? Maybe some hidden cash? They know there will be loss of life engaging Fallujah and yet they go forward anyway. They are doing so for the Iraqi people.

Whatever reasons the US had in the past for assisting Saddam does not negate our current actions.

The USA is going into Falluja as a part of its overall effort in Iraq, which requires elimination of the insurgency. Approximately 50,000 civilians are estimated to be within the combat zone, perhaps 500-1500 are insurgents. We are utilizing artillary, 3000 pound bombs, and a host of other indirect fire weapons in this offensive. Our forces will kill a dozen civilians for every insurgent in this endevour. And the remaining insurgents probably have minimal overall value anyway - they are just willing cannon fodder. How is this "for the Iraqi people"?

Our troops are being used. They are doing their duty, and they are to be respected for this. But it does not change the fact that they are being ill used. This is not for the Iraqi people. It's not for the American people. It's for the neo-con power elite and their plans for global domination.

-----

When you cannot present a real argument, attack my spelling!

I don't have time to cut and paste every post I make to something that can spell check. You chose to use this board system, rather than somthing like phpBB which provides for spell checking and a host of advanced features not available on vBulletin - and phpBB is even free. I moved off vBulletin years ago, first to UBB and then to phpBB. You might want to check it out just in case you ever want to redo your board:

http://www.phpbb.com/index.php
http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=208855 <--- spell checker.

 

[jimnyc]

The USA is going into Falluja as a part of its overall effort in Iraq, which requires elimination of the insurgency. Approximately 50,000 civilians are estimated to be within the combat zone, perhaps 500-1500 are insurgents. We are utilizing artillary, 3000 pound bombs, and a host of other indirect fire weapons in this offensive. Our forces will kill a dozen civilians for every insurgent in this endevour. And the remaining insurgents probably have minimal overall value anyway - they are just willing cannon fodder. How is this "for the Iraqi people"?

Our troops are being used. They are doing their duty, and they are to be respected for this. But it does not change the fact that they are being ill used. This is not for the Iraqi people. It's not for the American people. It's for the neo-con power elite and their plans for global domination.

Again, other than your conspiracy theories, what proof do you have that our current government is planning global domination?

When you cannot present a real argument, attack my spelling!

I don't need much of an argument to beat someone who relies on conspiracy theories.

I don't have time to cut and paste every post I make to something that can spell check. You chose to use this board system, rather than somthing like phpBB which provides for spell checking and a host of advanced features not available on vBulletin - and phpBB is even free. I moved off vBulletin years ago, first to UBB and then to phpBB. You might want to check it out just in case you ever want to redo your board:

http://www.phpbb.com/index.php
http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=208855 <--- spell checker.

PHPBB is one of the most insecure systems available and that's why they're forever releasing security patches for it. Websites utilizing PHPBB are hacked into daily, this is evident not only in their forums but also in a load of other webhost related boards I belong to. You get what you pay for. vBulletin may be costly but it is the #1 rated message board system used on the net and easily has the best security and the most administration options. vBulletin does offer a spell check option but it's an additional add-on. PHPBB does not have a host of advance features not available to VB. I have another board running on PHPBB and I'm quite familiar with the advanced features - which don't even come remotely close to VB.

 

[wade]

Wade - what argument have you attempted to make? it's all the same trite you always post! You are all ready and willing to go drop nukes on Iran, but now you are crying about civilians in Iraq that are being used as human shields!!

No, I just get sickened when Americans try to claim we went into Iraq because we love those people and want them to have freedom. That's not why we went there, and it's not why we are there now.

The arguments about civilian casualties relate to the argument that we are there for the beloved Iraqi's. If we drop the prentense and admit why we are really doing what we are doing, the collateral damage becomes a much less important issue.

 

[jimnyc]

No, I just get sickened when Americans try to claim we went into Iraq because we love those people and want them to have freedom. That's not why we went there, and it's not why we are there now.

Read all the resolutions and prove all the countries involved didn't mean what they said in regards to humanitarian reasons.

 

[wade]

PHPBB is one of the most insecure systems available and that's why they're forever releasing security patches for it. Websites utilizing PHPBB are hacked into daily, this is evident not only in their forums but also in a load of other webhost related boards I belong to. You get what you pay for. vBulletin may be costly but it is the #1 rated message board system used on the net and easily has the best security and the most administration options. vBulletin does offer a spell check option but it's an additional add-on. PHPBB does not have a host of advance features not available to VB. I have another board running on PHPBB and I'm quite familiar with the advanced features - which don't even come remotely close to VB.

Depends on how you set it up. Yes phpBB has security issues, mostly related to what mods you install. As for features, phpBB has group control features that VB does not come close to offering. Not really important to this kind of a board but that is what motivated me to move to phpBB, along with the ever increasing price of the VB license.

But I think you must agree far too much effort in VB has been spent on these silly emoticons when it is lacking such a key feature as a spell checker.

 

[wade]

I know this is going to be stupid of me, but let's hear your theory as to why we are really there?

.

The Project for the New American Century.

The People versus the Powerful is the oldest story in human history. At no
point in history have the Powerful wielded so much control. At no point in
history has the active and informed involvement of the People, all of them,
been more absolutely required.

William Rivers Pitt: 02/25/03

The Project for the New American Century, or PNAC, is a Washington-based
think tank created in 1997. Above all else, PNAC desires and demands one
thing: The establishment of a global American empire to bend the will of
all nations. They chafe at the idea that the United States, the last
remaining superpower, does not do more by way of economic and military
force to bring the rest of the world under the umbrella of a new
socio-economic Pax Americana.

The fundamental essence of PNAC's ideology can be found in a White Paper
produced in September of 2000 entitled "Rebuilding America's Defenses:
Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century." In it, PNAC outlines
what is required of America to create the global empire they envision.
According to PNAC, America must:

* Reposition permanently based forces to Southern Europe, Southeast Asia
and the Middle East;
* Modernize U.S. forces, including enhancing our fighter aircraft,
submarine and surface fleet capabilities;
* Develop and deploy a global missile defense system, and develop a
strategic dominance of space;
* Control the "International Commons" of cyberspace;
* Increase defense spending to a minimum of 3.8 percent of gross domestic
product, up from the 3 percent currently spent.

Most ominously, this PNAC document described four "Core Missions" for the
American military. The two central requirements are for American forces to
"fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theater wars," and
to "perform the 'constabulary' duties associated with shaping the security
environment in critical regions." Note well that PNAC does not want America
to be prepared to fight simultaneous major wars. That is old school. In
order to bring this plan to fruition, the military must fight these wars
one way or the other to establish American dominance for all to see.

Why is this important? After all, wacky think tanks are a cottage industry
in Washington, DC. They are a dime a dozen. In what way does PNAC stand
above the other groups that would set American foreign policy if they could?
Two events brought PNAC into the mainstream of American government: the
disputed election of George W. Bush, and the attacks of September 11th.
When Bush assumed the Presidency, the men who created and nurtured the
imperial dreams of PNAC became the men who run the Pentagon, the Defense
Department and the White House. When the Towers came down, these men
saw, at long last, their chance to turn their White Papers into substantive policy.

Vice President Dick Cheney is a founding member of PNAC, along with Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Defense Policy Board chairman Richard Perle.
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz is the ideological father of the
group. Bruce Jackson, a PNAC director, served as a Pentagon official for
Ronald Reagan before leaving government service to take a leading position
with the weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin.

PNAC is staffed by men who previously served with groups like Friends of
the Democratic Center in Central America, which supported America's bloody
gamesmanship in Nicaragua and El Salvador, and with groups like The
Committee for the Present Danger, which spent years advocating that a
nuclear war with the Soviet Union was "winnable."

PNAC has recently given birth to a new group, The Committee for the
Liberation of Iraq, which met with National Security Advisor Condoleezza
Rice in order to formulate a plan to "educate" the American populace about
the need for war in Iraq. CLI has funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to
support the Iraqi National Congress and the Iraqi heir presumptive, Ahmed
Chalabi. Chalabi was sentenced in absentia by a Jordanian court in 1992 to
22 years in prison for bank fraud after the collapse of Petra Bank, which
he founded in 1977. Chalabi has not set foot in Iraq since 1956, but his
Enron-like business credentials apparently make him a good match for the
Bush administration's plans.

PNAC's "Rebuilding America's Defenses" report is the institutionalization
of plans and ideologies that have been formulated for decades by the men
currently running American government. The PNAC Statement of Principles is
signed by Cheney, Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld, as well as by Eliot Abrams, Jeb
Bush, Bush's special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, and many
others. William Kristol, famed conservative writer for the Weekly Standard,
is also a co-founder of the group. The Weekly Standard is owned by Ruppert
Murdoch, who also owns international media giant Fox News.

The desire for these freshly empowered PNAC men to extend American
hegemony by force of arms across the globe has been there since day
one of the Bush administration, and is in no small part a central reason for the Florida
electoral battle in 2000. Note that while many have said that Gore and Bush
are ideologically identical, Mr. Gore had no ties whatsoever to the fellows
at PNAC. George W. Bush had to win that election by any means necessary,
and PNAC signatory Jeb Bush was in the perfect position to ensure the rise
to prominence of his fellow imperialists. Desire for such action, however,
is by no means translatable into workable policy. Americans enjoy their
comforts, but don't cotton to the idea of being some sort of Neo-Rome.

On September 11th, the fellows from PNAC saw a door of opportunity open
ide before them, and stormed right through it.

Bush released on September 20th 2001 the "National Security Strategy of the
United States of America." It is an ideological match to PNAC's "Rebuilding
America's Defenses" report issued a year earlier. In many places, it uses
exactly the same language to describe America's new place in the world.

Recall that PNAC demanded an increase in defense spending to at least 3.8%
of GDP. Bush's proposed budget for next year asks for $379 billion in
defense spending, almost exactly 3.8% of GDP.

In August of 2002, Defense Policy Board chairman and PNAC member Richard
Perle heard a policy briefing from a think tank associated with the Rand
Corporation. According to the Washington Post and The Nation, the final
slide of this presentation described "Iraq as the tactical pivot, Saudi
Arabia as the strategic pivot, and Egypt as the prize" in a war that would
purportedly be about ridding the world of Saddam Hussein's weapons. Bush
has deployed massive forces into the Mideast region, while simultaneously
engaging American forces in the Philippines and playing nuclear chicken
with North Korea. Somewhere in all this lurks at least one of the "major
theater wars" desired by the September 2000 PNAC report.

Iraq is but the beginning, a pretense for a wider conflict. Donald Kagan, a
central member of PNAC, sees America establishing permanent military bases
in Iraq after the war. This is purportedly a measure to defend the peace in
the Middle East, and to make sure the oil flows. The nations in that
region, however, will see this for what it is: a jump-off point for
American forces to invade any nation in that region they choose to. The
American people, anxiously awaiting some sort of exit plan after America
defeats Iraq, will see too late that no exit is planned.

All of the horses are traveling together at speed here. The defense
contractors who sup on American tax revenue will be handsomely paid for
arming this new American empire. The corporations that own the news media
will sell this eternal war at a profit, as viewership goes through the
stratosphere when there is combat to be shown. Those within the
administration who believe that the defense of Israel is contingent upon
laying waste to every possible aggressor in the region will have their
dreams fulfilled. The PNAC men who wish for a global Pax Americana at
gunpoint will see their plans unfold. Through it all, the bankrollers from
the WTO and the IMF will be able to dictate financial terms to the entire
planet. This last aspect of the plan is pivotal, and is best described in
the newly revised version of Greg Palast's masterpiece, "The Best Democracy
Money Can Buy."

There will be adverse side effects. The siege mentality average Americans
are suffering as they smother behind yards of plastic sheeting and duct
tape will increase by orders of magnitude as our aggressions bring forth
new terrorist attacks against the homeland. These attacks will require the
implementation of the newly drafted Patriot Act II, an augmentation of the
previous Act that has profoundly sharper teeth. The sun will set on the
Constitution and Bill of Rights.

The American economy will be ravaged by the need for increased defense
spending, and by the aforementioned "constabulary" duties in Iraq,
Afghanistan and elsewhere. Former allies will turn on us. Germany, France
and the other nations resisting this Iraq war are fully aware of this game
plan. They are not acting out of cowardice or because they love Saddam
Hussein, but because they mean to resist this rising American empire, lest
they face economic and military serfdom at the hands of George W. Bush.
Richard Perle has already stated that France is no longer an American ally.

As the eagle spreads its wings, our rhetoric and their resistance will
become more agitated and dangerous.

Many people, of course, will die. They will die from war and from want,
from famine and disease. At home, the social fabric will be torn in ways
that make the Reagan nightmares of crack addiction, homelessness and AIDS
seem tame by comparison.

This is the price to be paid for empire, and the men of PNAC who now
control the fate and future of America are more than willing to pay it. For
them, the benefits far outweigh the liabilities.

The plan was running smoothly until those two icebergs collided. Millions
and millions of ordinary people are making it very difficult for Bush's
international allies to keep to the script. PNAC may have designs for the
control of the "International Commons" of the Internet, but for now it is
the staging ground for a movement that would see empire take a back seat to
a wise peace, human rights, equal protection under the law, and the
preponderance of a justice that will, if properly applied, do away forever
with the anger and hatred that gives birth to terrorism in the first place.
Tommaso Palladini of Milan perhaps said it best as he marched with his
countrymen in Rome. "You fight terrorism," he said, "by creating more
justice in the world."

The People versus the Powerful is the oldest story in human history. At no
point in history have the Powerful wielded so much control. At no point in
history has the active and informed involvement of the People, all of them,
been more absolutely required. The tide can be stopped, and the men who
desire empire by the sword can be thwarted. It has already begun, but it
must not cease. These are men of will, and they do not intend to fail.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1665.htm