But the Nazi holocaust was then. The genocide that is being perpetrated by the Bashir government of Sudan and his Janjaweed henchmen is now. Perhaps our generation has developed a much higher tolerance for violence and injustice on the way to our "advanced" state of development? Perhaps we are not cut from the same fabric as our forefathers who, upon hearing of the atrocities that were occurring across the Atlantic Ocean throughout Europe, mobilized the civilized world to stop them.
We have come a long way indeed. We have reached the point where we are now willing to engage in wars of commission, such as the one we are fighting today in Iraq, as well as wars of omission, such as the one that we are not, but should be fighting in Darfur. Perhaps, if we give it enough time, the situation in Darfur will someday resolve itself. Perhaps one day President Bashir and the Janjaweed fighters will wake to find that they have grown a conscience and voluntarily stop their genocide. Or maybe, if we wait long enough, the death tolls will eventually reach into the several millions required to provoke our "modern" consciences into action. Perhaps one day we Americans will join with other "civilized" peoples to take real action to intervene in the situation and prevent further atrocities from occurring. Perhaps?
The humanitarian refugee crisis created by the genocide in Darfur is one of staggering proportions. Even conservative estimates from NGOs such as the Save Darfur Coalition place the number of refugees who have fled Darfur at probably more than 2.5 million people. These refugees survive today in squalid conditions in camps scattered throughout eastern Chad or other areas inside Sudan. Many of these refugees would like to return someday to their villages in Darfur. However, they know they would face certain extermination if they were to attempt to return to their homes now.
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