Bush's Legacy: Opportunities Lost on Darfur

In response to David Kaye's recent post on Chasing the Flame, "Unilateralism in Darfur?", President Bush has, in fact, floated the (not entirely well-thought-out) idea of sending American troops to Darfur. In a column in August 2007, Nick Kristof recalled,

"He alluded to that when he told a woman in Tennessee who asked him about Darfur: 'The threshold question was: If there is a problem, why don't you just go take care of it?' Mr. Bush was talked out of the idea by Condi Rice, who told him that the U.S. just couldn't start another war in a Muslim country. So, as Mr. Bush told the questioner: 'I made the decision not to send U.S. troops unilaterally into Darfur.'"

But as Kristof continues, and Kaye echoes, President Bush failed to pursue---or at least, pursue vigorously enough---a variety of other options that might have ended the genocide. (Kristof lays out a few in the column.)

I have no doubt that the President and Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice have regrets about Darfur, but I hope that what they regret most is not using their incredible influence to the fullest possible extent to resolve the conflict. Rice's comments to the New York Times Magazine, as quoted by Kaye, that the U.S. worked "night and day" on the issue and she doesn't "know that there were other answers" are categorically false-either self-delusion, or an outright face-saving lie.

To borrow again from Kaye's post, because this quote from Kofi Annan is just brilliant:

"Responding to a claim by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, for example, who said Washington had worked 'day and night' to end human rights violations in Darfur, Annan smiled before remarking: 'I don't know about day and night. It depends how long your days and your nights are.'

"'The world could not give them 18 helicopters," he said. "We could have done more - and should.'"

Indeed.