■"Darfur: Where Is Europe?," by Christian W.D. Bock and Leland R. Miller, Washington Post, 9 December 2004, p. A33.
■"Pentagon To Seek $80 Billion More: Request to Help Finance Iraq, Afghanistan Presence Is Bigger Than Expected," by Greg Jaffe, Wall Street Journal, 14 December 2004, p. A1.
Great op-ed castigating the Europeans for taking a total pass on the Sudan. What are they so scared about, the authors wonder?
Simply stated: if the American military doesn't show up, there is no multinational party. And the American military ain't showing up so long as it remains bogged down in both Iraq and Afghanistan. And it will remain bogged down there until the situation either settles on its own, settles because the U.S. creates some local ownership of the issues, or settles because the U.S. gets some major new help from outside powers. Of those three choices, I'd say local ownership is the most realistic.
So if you want help for Sudan, help this administration figure out how to generate some local ownership on Iraq and soon. Because until that situation settles, there'll be no U.S. military effort in Sudan, and that means no European effort.
Bitching at the Euros in the meantime is good sport, but a complete waste of time.
| Permalink |
