OpEdNews » In Support of a UN Arms Embargo of Sudan

It is widely known in the international community that the United Nations ban on weapons to Darfur is ineffective. The various factions are still receiving shipments of heavy weapons, small arms, ammunition, and other military equipment into Sudan, where they are transported to Darfur. That is why it is essential that the Congress act now to extend the embargo to all of Sudan. It is essential that we exercise our strength as a country to do everything we can to stop the genocide.

A recent report by Amnesty International stated that a total arms embargo on Darfur will add diplomatic pressure for the embargo to be applied to Sudan as a whole. At the moment there is a limited ban which is intended to stop the supply of weapons from reaching various factions in Darfur, but this ban has been considered ineffective. After four years of warfare, the people of Sudan are suffering terribly from the affects of widespread civilian dislocation, famine and genocide. If the United States redirected even a small percentage of budgetary allocation they are spending on the war in Iraq, we could unilaterally prevent genocide.

My name is Chris Lugo and I am a candidate for the US Senate seat in Tennessee. I am running as a progressive because I believe that the time has come to end the war in Iraq, ensure that all Americans have access to affordable, quality health care and to restore common sense and decency to our national dialogue. For far too long we have neglected the needs of the poor in America, allowing hundreds of thousands in Tennessee to go without healthcare and millions nationally. For far too long we have let our education system be a secondary priority to the military industrial complex. As a result of these misguided funding priorities we have a graduation rate in Tennessee of only about 60% statewide for high school students and only about one quarter of all Tennesseans graduate from college. We must take solid steps to ensure that all Americans have safe and affordable housing, that we live in a clear and healthy environment, and that we take steps to address the deep divisions of inequity that still persist in our society. I believe in the American dream and I believe that all Americans deserve the opportunity to have a rich and meaningful life, but the only way to ensure that these priorities are addressed is to make certain that our government makes this a priority, that our elected representatives make peace and social justice a priority on a national scale. We are at a crossroads in history, and Tennessee faces a choice which we all face. Do we choose to continue down the path of abandonment, of hopelessness and fear or do we choose to embrace the compassionate, hopeful elements of our national identity? I for one, choose to hope. I believe that the government is here to serve the people and our elected leaders are here to serve you.

A retired Navyman who has ran for 1st. District of Tennessee as a Green with a primary plank of Impeaching Bush/Chaney and a secondary plank of listening to and serving people instead of corporations. He now has accepted the position of FOAVC Coordinater for TN. He also is a direct decendent both on his Mothers and Fathers failies of members of the Seneca Nation.
Robert N SmithA retired Navyman who has ran for 1st. District of Tennessee as a Green with a primary plank of Impeaching Bush/Chaney and a secondary plank of listening to and serving people instead of corporations. He now has accepted the position of FOAVC Coordinater for TN. He also is a direct decendent both on his Mothers and Fathers failies of members of the Seneca Nation.

Arms embargo?

I am afraid any arms embargo won't work until we identify who is supplying the money. From my experience usualy the US but sometimes other sources of money start and keep a local war going. Only when the source of funds is cut off, do you see anything near a settlement of the fighting. Often the culpret uses a neighboring group as the funnel for cash and arms. Have to look at who is bankrolling that group to get a clear picture. Same in Iraq or Afghanistan. Their the group suppling money and even fighters is Saudi Arabia. Why is a US backed government supplying weapons and money for people fighting our military, unless our government doesn't want peace in the region.

by Robert N Smith (13 articles, 0 quicklinks, 8 diaries, 129 comments) on Friday, August 1, 2008 at 10:03:08 PM