Gold Stars and Cookies for Omar al Bashir
by Charles Lemos, Mon Oct 19, 2009 at 02:58:10 PM EDT
"The Bush administration has spent years not only talking at very senior levels with one of the world's worst tyrants, who is responsible for genocide, but also reportedly offered the regime major concessions in exchange for minor steps and rolled out the red carpet for some of its most reprehensible officials." -- Susan Rice, May 2008
In March, President Obama launched a "high-level, urgent review" of US policy toward the Sudan. As a candidate, Barack Obama campaigned hard on toughening US policy toward the Sudan and bringing an end to the fighting in Darfur, which he described routinely as "genocide". As a Senator, Mr. Obama visited Darfurian refugee camps in Chad in 2006 and identified the issue as a priority. Today the Obama Administration in a stunning reversal unveiled its new Sudan policy. From the New York Times:
Laying out the basic outlines of his Sudan policy, President Obama said Monday that he would renew "tough sanctions" against the Khartoum government and increase pressure if it failed to improve the dire situation in Darfur -- but he also held out the possibility of incentives if Sudan cooperated."As the United States and our international partners meet our responsibility to act, the government of Sudan must meet its responsibilities to take concrete steps in a new direction," Mr. Obama said in a statement released by the White House.
The strategy, worked out after months of intensive debate, is meant to build pressure on Sudan to end the abuses that have left millions of people dead or displaced in its vast Darfur region. It places a greater emphasis on incentives than the Bush administration policy, but officials were quick to stress that there were also additional punishments on the table.
The president of Sudan, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, has been charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes by the International Criminal Court in the Hague for his role in human rights abuses in Darfur, and the new policy has come under criticism from some human rights advocates for its willingness to engage with his government.
A Sudanese presidential adviser, Ghazi Salahadin, said after the policy was announced that the new approach had some "positive points" and represented a "new Obama spirit," but he expressed disappointment that the president had referred explicitly to genocide, Reuters reported from the capital, Khartoum.
Washington officials offered few details on Monday about the policy beyond its general aims. The United States, Mr. Obama's statement said, would work to end gross human rights abuses, including genocide, in Darfur, seek implementation of the peace agreement that ended a war between northern and southern Sudan, and ensure that Sudan not serve as a haven for terrorists.
"If the government of Sudan acts to improve the situation on the ground and to advance peace, there will be incentives; if it does not, then there will be increased pressure imposed by the United States and the international community," the statement said.
Speaking at a news conference at the State Department, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Maj. Gen. J. Scott Gration, retired, the president's special envoy to Sudan, and Susan Rice, the ambassador to the United Nations, did not provide details on what incentives might be offered to Sudan. Mrs. Clinton said that the administration had "a menu of incentives and disincentives, political and economic, that we will be looking to," but added that it was in a classified addendum to the strategy document.
One does not does give "incentives" to Omar al Bashir. One arrests Omar al Bashir for crimes against humanity. The Administration's embrace of realpolitik is fast becoming a disgrace. This Administration is embracing tyrants while spurning meetings with the Dalai Lama.
The US Sudan strategy announced today includes, "A frank dialogue by the Special Envoy with the Government about what needs to be accomplished, how the bilateral relationship can improve if conditions transform, and how the government would become even more isolated if conditions remain the same or worsen. The dialogue must be based on a policy of 'verify, then trust.'" It goes on to say, "Backsliding by any party will be met with credible, meaningful disincentives leveraged by Washington and the international community." In other words, a slap on the wrist. By embracing Omar al Bashir and extending him a lifeline, the Obama Administration has condoned genocide against not just Darfurians but the numerous peoples of the South Sudan.
There are, no doubt, limits to American power. The reality is that the West has little to no leverage on the Sudan. But to offer "incentives" to a government that Obama himself once described as having "offended the standards of our common humanity" is a bridge too far for me. Though the Administration is describing the approach as pragmatic and driven by a sense of urgency, it is willfully naive to expect that Omar al Bashir is even interested in changing his behavoir. How does one even attempt to reform a genocidal maniac?
Well if you're General Scott Gration, the Special Envoy to Sudan, you start offering "gold stars and cookies". On his return from meeting the charming mass murderer al Bashir in Khartoum, General Gration said "We've got to think about giving out cookies. Kids, countries -- they react to gold stars, smiley faces, handshakes, agreements, talk, engagement."
You have got to be kidding me.
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