Darfur - Crocodile Tears and Irony from US Congress

[a_unique_person]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N19285970.htm



WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Congress rejected U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's impassioned appeal to provide $50 million for African troops trying to keep peace in Sudan's Darfur region, the State Department said on Monday.

U.S. funding for about 6,000 African Union peacekeepers ends this year and the State Department is concerned that violence in Darfur will only get worse if more money is not found to keep the mission going.



Darfur was good for a nyahh nyahh nyahh for a few days, but when it comes to putting your money where your mouth is.....

[Ryokan]

Shame shame shame.

If my country sent troops to Darfur, I would sign up.

[Skeptic]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N19285970.htm



Darfur was good for a nyahh nyahh nyahh for a few days, but when it comes to putting your money where your mouth is.....

Actually, the US is giving quite a bit of money to Darfur; the total US aid pledged to the area had already been over $300 million, and with this extra $50 million will be getting towards the half-a-billion range. Need it be said that the USA also leads any other country in the world by far in help to Darfur?

But of course, all of this doesn't matter to the AUPs of the world. They view the fact that Rice might have trouble getting this additional $50 million--over and above the $300+ million already given, mind you--from Congress as evidence for US being "callous" and "stingy" with help to Darfur.

And it goes without saying that the AUPs of the world, now accusing the US of "not caring" about Darfur, do not actually praise the USA when it does express care about Darfur; then, of course, it is "hyping" the Darfur crisis for its own imperialistic "Regime change":

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sudan/story/0,14658,1318643,00.html

So what do we see here? On the one hand, the US government, showing both moral and financial and political concern about Darfur and taking serious steps, to the tune of aide in the hundreds of millions of dollars, political pressure on Khartum, etc., to help the victims.

On the other, a bunch of jaw-flapping "USA can do no right" idiots, whose criticism alternates between "US is hyping Darfur crisis for imperialistic reasons" to "US callously disregards the suffering in Darfur" according to, presumably, today's headlines, or the day of the week, or what they had for breakfast.

[Kerberos]

Actually, the US is giving quite a bit of money to Darfur; the total US aid pledged to the area had already been over $300 million, and with this extra $50 million will be getting towards the half-a-billion range. Need it be said that the USA also leads any other country in the world by far in help to Darfur?

Is that in relative or in absolute numbers? Because the latter is frankly BS.

[Skeptic]

Is that in relative or in absolute numbers? Because the latter is frankly BS.

In absolute numbers. So? Does it make it any less valuable?

[Kerberos]

In absolute numbers. So? Does it make it any less valuable?
I rather though so, less valuable? Yes for comparing with other countries it does, or does aid from EU countries magically become more valuable if we count it as one package rather than 25? You might as well use absolute numbers when comparing how much crime countries have. Gosh, US has XXX times more crimes that Malta, what a shock. Of course you wouldn't do that, because that bit of data manipulation would work against the US.

[Mycroft]

I rather though so, less valuable? Yes for comparing with other countries it does, or does aid from EU countries magically become more valuable if we count it as one package rather than 25? You might as well use absolute numbers when comparing how much crime countries have. Gosh, US has XXX times more crimes that Malta, what a shock. Of course you wouldn't do that, because that bit of data manipulation would work against the US.

The assertion in the OP was that the US didn't give a carp, that the US only wanted to use Darfur to say, "nyahh nyahh nyahh" for a few days, but didn't care enough to follow through with real aid. The point of outlining the actual amount of real aid given by the US wasn't to make the US seem superior to EU nations, but to refute blatant partisan US bashing.

[Anti_Hypeman]

OOOOHHHH AUP Got Served!

[Freakshow]

...but to refute blatant partisan US bashing.From AUP? Nah....couldn't be! :D