Letter to George Bush

The bullet points were cribbed almost verbatim from Human Rights Watch, but the rest of the narrative is mine. I strongly suggest that my tiny handful of readers get involved, too.

July 23, 2004

President George Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

President Bush:
The U.S. must do everything within its power to stop the genocide which is taking place in Sudan. I insist that you do the following:

*Speak out strongly on Darfur.

*Support a Chapter VII resolution in the U.N. Security Council that will reverse ethnic cleansing, protect civilians, permit the voluntary return of refugees and displaced persons to their homes in safety and dignity, and insure full humanitarian access.

*Support the deployment of U.N. human rights monitoring team to Sudan.

*Demand accountability for human rights abuses and crimes against humanity in Sudan, including collecting evidence for future trials against individuals implicated in war crimes and human rights abuses.

If we truly believe in basic human rights--a claim which your administration cited repeatedly to justify invading Iraq, deposing Saddam Hussein and ending decades of repression--then we can't ignore Sudan. The situation in Darfur is at least as serious as the suffering of Shiites and Kurds under Saddam. The fact that it's taking place in a lower-profile region with less oil-producing capacity should have no bearing on the U.S. response.

Sincerely,
Peter Anderson