| Thursday, July 8, 2004 |
13:05 - And it's all our fault
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3875277.stm
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MoveOn.org has been agitating lately for the US to act more strongly against the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. "The Bush administration has asked for UN sanctions of the country," said a recent e-mail release (paraphrased), "but it's not enough." Implying, apparently, that MoveOn.org supports the US going to war as long as it's not what we actually plan to do. As long as they can criticize us for not doing enough in some godforsaken part of the world, they're ridin' high.
I wonder what they might have to say now that France has declared that it won't be getting involved, and would rather let a million people be slaughtered by the Sudanese government (because, see, as long as other countries aren't involved, there is peace):
“In Darfur, it would be better to help the Sudanese get over the crisis so their country is pacified rather than sanctions which would push them back to their misdeeds of old,” junior Foreign Minister Renaud Muselier told French radio.
France led opposition to US moves at the UN over Iraq. As was the case in Iraq, it also has significant oil interests in Sudan.
Mr Muselier also dismissed claims of “ethnic cleansing” or genocide in Darfur.
“I firmly believe it is a civil war and as they are little villages of 30, 40, 50, there is nothing easier than for a few armed horsemen to burn things down, to kill the men and drive out the women,” he said.
Which makes it all okay.
So glad to know where the French, our moral superiors, stand on all this.
But it's not as though this isn't a shining moment for the BBC as well. Right now, the story has the following snippet:
France led opposition to US moves at the UN over Iraq. As was the case in Iraq, it also has significant oil interests in Sudan.
That's not what it said a couple of hours ago, though. It used to say that the U.S. had "significant oil interests" in both Iraq and Sudan. They "stealth-edited" this paragraph after a huge and damaging lie was posted on their site for long enough for the wire services to all pick it up. An innocent mistake? Oh, I'm sure of it. Anybody can make a simple slip-up like, oh, say, assuming that the U.S. invaded Iraq for oil, and now it wants to invade Sudan for oil—and France, ever the voice of reason and the morally pure guardian against venality, opposes this vile imperialistic maneuver.
Hey, rest of the world? How about you all just go watch TV for a while, or play cricket or whatever the hell you do in your spare time; and we'll go make the world a better place. Believe me, it'll all go better without your "help". We'll tell you when it's okay to look again.
No thanks are necessary.
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Brian Tiemann
