July 21, 2005
IT'S THE INDIAN NOT THE ATLANTIC THAT MATTERS:
Rwanda begins sending more troops to Darfur (AP, 7/18/05)
The first of some 1,200 additional Rwandan troops heading for a peacekeeping mission in Sudan's Darfur region departed on Sunday aboard U.S. military transports, officials said.Posted by Orrin Judd at July 21, 2005 12:04 AMThe 95 troops that flew out on Sunday join more than 500 Rwandan soldiers already in the western Sudanese region as part of what will be a 7,500-strong African Union peacekeeping force monitoring a fragile cease-fire between the Government and rebel forces in Darfur.
The United States is flying the Rwandans to Darfur as part of a NATO support mission, and U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Scott Shaffer, commander of the 86th Air Expedition Group, said on Sunday that it will take about three weeks to ferry all the Rwandan soldiers to Sudan.
The United States, the European Union and individual European countries are helping finance the AU peacekeeping mission.
Rwandan troops? Are they going to stop the genocide or to teach the Janjaweed how to be more efficient in doing it?
Posted by: bart at July 21, 2005 5:14 AMThey have no dog in the Sudan's fight. American troops don't stay home just because they whacked the Indians.
Posted by: oj at July 21, 2005 8:33 AMWill they be carrying machetes?
Posted by: ratbert at July 21, 2005 11:12 AMThese Rwandan troops are not the same as the ones who carried out the genocide, and the current government is on the side of the angels if I'm not mistaken. They're doing this because they're our allies.
Posted by: pj at July 21, 2005 12:13 PMpj,
And there were no Nazis here. They all came from the next town.
Posted by: bart at July 21, 2005 1:01 PMWell, we let German troops into Afganistan. Do Bart and Ali have any actual facts that say these are the same as the killers from 11 years ago? The passage of time would imply that soldiers (who tend to be young) now were not involved then.
Posted by: Bob at July 21, 2005 3:51 PMNot to mention the fact that they're almost as likely to be on the killed side as on the killing. But Bart has made it pretty clear that there is no forgiveness in his vocabulary.
Posted by: Timothy at July 21, 2005 5:03 PMForgiveness is an over-rated virtue. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
I rarely forgive and I never forget. And that has served me well in life.
Posted by: bart at July 22, 2005 8:41 PMIf your mission in life was to be universally perceived as a flaming bunghole.
Posted by: oj at July 22, 2005 8:43 PMMy mission in life is not to get taken advantage of. And because I'm careful, it happens very rarely.
I understand how the freeloaders, backstabbers and slimeballs that make up the vast bulk of humanity might find that offputting.
Posted by: bart at July 23, 2005 5:44 AMUntil you understand that you're one of the latter you understand nothing about life, Creation or yourself.
Posted by: oj at July 23, 2005 8:38 AMUnlike you, OJ, I admit to being a manifestly flawed human being.
However, given the importance I place on honesty and integrity in commercial dealing, I am no 'slimeball.'
Posted by: bart at July 23, 2005 1:00 PMTwo out of three--you're getting there.
Posted by: oj at July 23, 2005 2:20 PMOne look at my 1040 and you'll see I'm no freeloader.
Also, I never backstab. It's bad form. However, I do plead guilty to being utterly ruthless when it comes to foreclosures and the occasional eviction. Sometimes that can devolve into gratuitous cruelty, but being gratuitously cruel to someone when you hold all the cards can be so much fun I can barely stand it.
Posted by: bart at July 23, 2005 5:51 PM