Mia.

This is coolbert:

Well, the Hollywood elite has begun to weigh in on the situation in Darfur.

I have blogged a number of times of Darfur. See here, and here, here [scroll down to the bottom to see what I have to say about Darfur] and here for instance.

First we have George Clooney. Says that "something has to be done".

Now we have an op ed piece in the Chicago Tribune last Tuesday by Mia Farrow.

Mia has made a trip to visit Darfur as part of her responsibility as an Ambassador for UNICEF.

[I think that Mia is following here in the footsteps of another famous actress, Audrey Hepburn, who was also an Ambassador for UNICEF. Audrey was noted for her petite figure, slightly built. A result of her living in Holland under the German occupation of World War Two. Her appearance, emulated by young women of the time [1950's], was a result of malnutrition and starvation she suffered!!!]

Mia reiterates in her op ed piece the tragedy of Darfur. That the situation in Darfur is not only NOT getting better, it is even destabilizing. Janjaweed militias have moved ACROSS the border from Sudan into Chad, attacked and briefly occupied towns in Chad that were main refugee centers.

The refugees have again pulled up whatever stakes they have and moved further away from their destroyed homes. Away from their oppressors. The UN has closed down refugee operations, the feeding, the medical treatment, the efforts to ameliorate the refugees plight to what extent that they can. African troops, the small contingents on the scene, just seem powerless to do ANY GOOD. Cannot protect the refugees or stop the atrocities.

Mia does a pretty good job of describing the atrocities she has seen:

"three men lie side by side, bloodstained gauze covering where their eyes once were [blinded on purpose by the janjaweed] . . . the janjaweed attacked him, they noticed his sightless, cataract-whitened left eye. They cut out his good eye instead."

"Three small children were thrown into flaming huts and burned alive."

Mia also quotes from the U.N. mandate on Darfur that:

"The UN mission shall include . . . military and civilian police liaison officers."

Mia concludes by saying in her op ed piece, "A robust UN-backed force must be deployed to halt these atrocities."

Absolutely. NOT just "liaison officers". NOT just debate at the UN as to whether the situation in Darfur constitutes genocide or mere ethnic cleansing or is a civil war. NOT just definitions and debate and continued wrangling over minutiae' semantic meaning!

Darfur needs to be tackled with a simultaneous "three-track" approach.

* A robust MILITARY force to prevent the janjaweed from conducting further attacks. This in all likelihood will entail offensive action by special operations type forces, backed up with air power, mostly of the helicopter gunship variety. NOT only to protect the refugees, but forestall any attempts at future janjaweed activity. MAKE THE HUNTERS [janjaweed] BECOME THE HUNTED!!

[this is the part that seems to make folks most squeamish!!]

* Stabilization of the refugee situation. Create safe camps with all the accoutrements to save lives and restore hope. SAFETY and THE PERCEPTION of safety.

* Negotiations with the Sudanese government to end this calamity. Negotiate with vigor for an end what can only be interpreted as GENOCIDE on the part of the government in Khartoum. Those refugees must NOT be allowed to become persons permanently without homes. They must be allowed to return and rebuild and remain unmolested!!

[Genocide: the destruction of a people, in part or in whole.]

Nobody says this is going to be easy. The UN does NOT have a good track record with this sort of thing. General George Marshall began planning for the post-war [World War Two] reconstruction of Europe THREE years before the event actually took place. It should be also noted that Marshall had at this disposal almost absolute carte blanche authority and funding. To do more or less whatever he deemed necessary. This sort of authority WILL NOT be present with the UN in Darfur.

Mia would obviously concur with me that SOMETHING MORE DRASTIC has to be done with regard to the Darfur crisis.

Will more vigorous measures be adopted? Sadly to say, I have my doubts.

coolbert.