SUPPORTING THE WAR EVERYWHERE BUT WHERE THE WAR IS

Pitying Darfur, ignoring Iraq (David Frum, National Post, May 9th, 2006)

It's not easy to be an enlightened liberal internationalist these days.

An enlightened liberal internationalist wants to send troops to the Sudanese region of Darfur to protect a majority Muslim population against murderous Islamic extremist militias.

On the other hand, he or she must oppose keeping troops in Iraq to protect a majority Muslim population against murderous Islamic extremist militias.

The enlightened liberal internationalist wants to use U.S. airpower to stop Osama bin Laden's allies in Khartoum from committing terrorist atrocities.

On the other hand, he or she must condemn the use of U.S. airpower to stop Osama bin Laden's allies in Iraq from committing terrorist atrocities.

NDP Leader Jack Layton summed up the two required points of view superbly in a pair of speeches he delivered last week. At a rally at Queen's Park in Toronto on April 30, timed to coincide with rallies in Washington, D.C. and across North America, Mr. Layton joined in a "scream" for Darfur. He declared: "Sometimes, there's a little too much thumb-twiddling." In a debate in the House of Commons the next day, he argued that it was immoral to stand by and do nothing as innocents are murdered.

On May 5, U.S. war protestor Cindy Sheehan passed through Ottawa -- and afterward, Mr. Layton urged the Harper government to accede to Ms. Sheehan's request that Canada accept U.S. military deserters as refugees: "We should be looking at it. These young people are courageous individuals. They've made a decision of conscience."

But what if the U.S. deserter were running away from an assignment to Darfur? Would that be a "decision of conscience"? Or would that be standing by as innocents are murdered?

Two days after Ms. Sheehan's visit to Ottawa, the London Sunday Times gave the world the first detailed report on the murder of Iraqi television journalist Atwar Bahjat. Bahjat, a correspondent for the al-Arabiyya television network, was killed on Feb. 5, after filing three reports on the bombing of the golden shrine in the city of Samarra, her home. Last week, the Times obtained video footage of her final moments, recorded on a mobile phone. Here is how her friend and colleague Hala Jaber described them:[...]

This is only one of the thousands of murders committed in Iraq by al-Qaeda terrorists, Baathist thugs and Iranian-backed militias. Yet these crimes seem to evoke "screams" of pain and outrage only from half the political spectrum. Where is the other half? Why are they encouraging Americans to desert Atwan Bhajat -- and those like her? How can they condemn jihad in Sudan as the equivalent of genocide in our time -- and pardon an even crueler jihad in Iraq as legitimate national resistance?

Has hatred of America perverted their judgment? Or did they lack any judgment to pervert?

If President Bush ordered an invasion of Darfur, how long would it be before we started seeing “Save the Janjaweed” protest marches.