From the Washington Post Letters to the Editor:
The State Department’s surprisingly low estimate of the death toll in Sudan — 60,000 to 160,000, as compared with the 400,000 estimated by human rights groups [editorial, April 24] — is disturbingly reminiscent of a controversy involving the State Department during the Holocaust.
In November 1943 Assistant Secretary of State Breckinridge Long, who was in charge of the Roosevelt administration’s immigration policy, testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee concerning a congressional resolution urging creation of a U.S. government agency to rescue refugees from Hitler. Long, who was privately anti-Semitic as well as bitterly opposed to refugee immigration, sought to undercut the rescue resolution. Trying to demonstrate that a new rescue agency was unnecessary, Long testified that “we have taken into this country since the beginning of the Hitler regime and the persecution of the Jews, until today, approximately 580,000 refugees.”
But the actual number of immigrants was not more than 250,000, and many of them were not Jews. Long’s wild exaggeration backfired. His testimony set off a firestorm of criticism from the media, Jewish organizations and members of Congress, giving important new momentum to the campaign for U.S. rescue action.
Today we know why the State Department in 1943 presented an implausibly high estimate of Jewish immigration to the United States. By contrast, we do not know what shaped the State Department’s recent decision to embrace an implausibly low estimate of the Sudan death toll. All we can say is that today, no less than in 1943, government officials have an obligation to present statistics that are not tainted by political considerations.
Accuracy and a determination to stop genocide should be their only motives.
RAFAEL MEDOFF
Director
David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies
Melrose Park, Pa.
I would never write another word about James Dobson, Randall Terry, or any of them if they would end their war on fags and focus their energy instead on the wholesale slaughter of Christians in Africa.
Ben
Amen to that… the salient point that is getting lost in all of the neocon and Bush administration failures/disappointments (Shiavo, SS privitization, FMA, Iraq) is that these issues are taking so much of their time that they are doing nothing about the truly important things like illegal immigration, taxes, the deficit and the genocides in Africa. It is always easy for people like Dobson and Terry to bitch and moan about fags and abortion but they never seem to bring anything of substance to the table.
Rick
Gee, what is the U.N.doing?
Oh, right; nothing at all. Except they stay on Israel’s case. I’m sure the persecuted Sudanese feel some comfort from that.
Cordially…
P.S. Fixing SS is very important, BTW.
Stormy70
John – I just googled evangelicals and the Sudan, and got pages of arlicles about evangelicals efforts to stop the genocide. There were articles from the Washington Post and Nicholas Kristof wrote a piece in the New York Times praising Evangelicals for trying to stop the genocide. He even chastised the left for not doing enough for Africa. The hard work is being done by Evangelicals, and it is flying under the radar of the MSM. Just because you have not heard about it, doesn’t mean nothing is being done by American Churches regarding the Sudan. I don’t know how to do a link to a specific source (not too computer savvy, which is why I am a lurker most of the time), but a search on Google will bring up these articles.
That being said, Randall Terry should be run out of town on a rail whenever he shows up. What a nutbag.
Stormy70
I think that Kristof piece is “Following God Abroad”.
John Cole
Stormy- Let’s tone down the snark here and see what I really know. I am well aware that some evangelicals and other religious-minded folks are on the ground doing the very hard work. In almost every genocide everywhere, the first people the victims turn to for shelter, food, and protection have been missionaries, both Catholic and evangelical.
I am also well aware that evangelicals are the first on the scene whenever there is famine, and are always on the scene in the most remote corners of the world helping to provide education, irrigation, agriculture skills, and other sustainability projects. They are truly doing God’s work.
I think you are again confusing the radical brand of theocrats who have been the target of my ire and the truly good people out there doing fantastic and fabulous things.
My point is simply- James Dobson and Falwell and those like him have a pulpit that they spend all their time railing against homosexuals and other ‘sins.’ I would be tempted to never say another word about them if they had the same sort of grass roots lobbying on behalf of these innocent victims.
Hell, I would settle for Dobson saying this:
“We think Democrats are attacking people of faith with the filibuster- but for a real attack on people of faith, we should turn our eyes on Sudan.”
I would still think they are lying about the Democrats, but I could live with it if they and their followers attacked the genocide issue with the same wrath of God they seem to reserve for those damned fags.
John Cole
So much for my anti-Christian bigotry- I have just outlined a pretty coherent role for religion in society. Damnit.
Stormy70
John – ok, I see your point, I thought you were lumping all evangelicals in with Dobson and crew.
I am no fan of Dobson, however, he has articles in his magazine (googled) concerning the Sudan, and he did sign the letter about the genocide to President Bush. I think his efforts would be better spent drawing attention to the genocide in Africa, but he does have a right to petition the government about issues he cares most about, ie judges. And we have the right to bitch about it. I want to be clear that I think Dobson’s views on homosexuality are wrong, and I don’t like the outfit he is running. I like the smut on my TV, and when I have kids, I can raise them without his input or advice.
I have read you long enough to know you are not a bigot towards Christianity, but some of the commenters may not know what goes on in Evangelical circles, and I felt I had to speak up.
Kimmitt
Gee, what is the U.N.doing?
When did the UN acquire a rapid-reaction military strike force?
Better question: What is NATO doing?
Justin Faulkner
Very well put…I agree.
Rick
Kimmitt,
Well, why doesn’t it do one of its save-the-world things, like “study the issue,” “express concern,” and pass a “strongly worded resolution?”
I mean, it’s the noble precursor of world government, isn’t it?
Cordially…
Mr Furious
Don’t worry Kimmitt & Rick, when John “Bad-ass” Bolton rides into town, he’ll have those pussies at the UN kicking some ass and taking names in Darfur lickety-split.
Oh, that’s right, the neocons in the Administration and the most powerful miliary in the world could give a shit…the only difference between this and Rwanda, is that in ten years Bush won’t look back and wish he’d done something to stop it.
Rick
So if Bush takes after the Sudanese Islamists, Mr. Furious has got his six?
Cordially…
Kimmitt
If Bush were backing an intervention into the Sudan, other than wondering where he found oil, I’d be for it.
Sav
the only difference between this and Rwanda, is that in ten years Bush won’t look back and wish he’d done something to stop it.
When Bush actually nixes UN help for genocide then you can start comparing Bush/Sudan with Clinton/Rwanda.
bago
Re: SS red herring.
Yeah, because giving money to old people is way more important than wholsale slaughter.
Ben
bago,
So starving old people to death in our own country is less important than a genocide on a continent that is corrupt and unwilling to do anything to help itself… ever?
Rick
Ben,
“Starving old people to death” is what program, exactly?
As I recall from 70s && 80s hyperbole, they can always fall back on that reliable staple: pet food. Now, with the advent of generic and store brands, they can flat out stuff themselves.
Cordially…
bago
Funny, I thought Americans, especially the older ones were dying because they were too fat.
I guess Christians only count if they’re white.