THE FRAUD OF DARFUR

The latest liberal cause célèbre is the "humanitarian crisis" of "genocide" in Darfur.  It is very difficult to find on this earth a more remote wasteland having no connection whatever to American interests than this patch of the Sahara Desert in western Sudan. 

But of course, that is precisely why liberals are so hysterical about it.  Here's where this place is:

Sudan is the largest country in Africa, one million square miles or one third of the entire continental United States.  Known to the ancient Egyptians as Nubia, it's where the Pharoahs got their black African slaves. 

It had been a Coptic Christian land, as was Egypt, for centuries when Arab nomadic hordes swept in during the mid-7^th century and forced its conversion to Islam.  Arabs interbred with the Nubians in the north, while the Christians established kingdoms in the south.

Over time, Arab blood became diluted so that all was left was the language.  There were black Moslems speaking Arabic in the north, and black Christians and traditional animist tribes in the south. 

In 1820, the Ottoman ruler of Egypt, Mohammed Ali, conquered the north.  After the Suez Canal's completion in 1869, the Brits decided Egypt would be better off as their colony.  Once this was accomplished in 1882, they added Sudan in 1898, calling it Anglo-Egyptian Sudan – which it remained until independence in 1956.

But the place was an artificial construct like most African make-believe countries.  Civil war immediately broke out between northern Moslems and southern Christians/Animists.  A truce was called in 1973, but resumed 10 years later when dictator Gaafar Numeiry declared Islamic Sharia law for the whole country including the south.

Finally, after 47 years (with the 73-83 hiatus) of civil war, a Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed in 2003, giving the south substantial autonomy and an equal share of oil revenues.  At least 20% of the key people in the national government at the capital of Khartoum are Christian.

So what's up with Darfur?

The first thing to understand is that there are no Christians in Darfur.  They're in the south, Darfur is way over there in the west.  The conflict, which started in 2003, is between camel-herding nomads and farmers in the desert – both of whom are Moslem.

The Darfur Conflict is purely Moslem:  Moslem versus Moslem.  No Christians are involved.  It is strictly Moslem tribal warfare.

The infamous "Janjaweed" militias of nomadic Abbala tribesmen are all Moslem.  The Fur, Zaghawa, and Massaleit farming tribes they are attacking are all Moslem. 

Moreover, there is not one side versus another.  It's chaotic tribal warfare between dozens and dozens of tribes who are continuously switching sides – sometimes right in the middle of a battle.

If there is anyplace in the world that America has no interest being involved in, this is it.

And yet, liberal outfits like SaveDarfur are repeatedly taking out full page ads, at enormous expense , in major newspapers like the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and the Washington Post, demanding "President Bush, Stop the Genocide Now!"

Goofball Hollywood celebrities jet over to Sudan and come back to bleat "Save Darfur!"

There are no good guys here – not the government, accused of supporting the Janjaweed, not the tribal crazies.  The only way to stop the slaughter would be to send in tens of thousands of American soldiers and getting many of them killed for no US interest.

But for liberals, that's the only justification for the death of American soldiers – only when it is not to fight for American security, only when it is purely "altruistic," only when there is no American reason for risking their lives whatever.

When the SaveDarfur folks realized this was not selling, they changed their pitch for a UN peacekeeping force.  But why spend a fortune – that could go to refugees, of which there are several hundred thousand – on ads in the US media?

This is a problem of the Moslem world.  Darfur is not our problem.  Why not take out ads in Saudi or Egyptian or Turkish or Moroccan or Malaysian or Indonesian or Pakistani or Kuwaiti papers, asking people to help save their fellow Moslems and demand their UN ambassador vote to do so? 

After all, Moslem countries have several dozen votes in the UN, the US only one.  Why bug us?

Because liberal compassion is all about alleviating liberal guilt, not about actually accomplishing anything.

So don't buy into the latest liberal con, the Fraud of Darfur.  And if some lib runs a guilt trip on you about it, ask him how many Moslems he's talked to like he's talking to you.  Then watch how quickly his pose of more-compassionate-than-thou moral superiority vanishes.