Wade Abbott

Prof. Brown

Eng. 1B

5- 6- 13

Stop the Slaughter

            There is a very large region of the world today, in fact, as large as the entire country of France, which desperately needs the help and intervention of the United States of America.  This extremely troubled region of the world is named Darfur, and is located in the northeastern African country of Sudan.  In 2003, two rebel movements, one being the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), took up arms and rebelled against the Extremely Islamic Sudanese government (Council 1).  The reasons for this rebellion were the failure to protect non-Islamic villages from attacks by nomadic Arab tribes, and the marginalization of the area by the Sudanese Government (Council 1).  In response to these rebellions, the Sudanese Government did the unthinkable.  They sent their military, along with Arab Militias, also known as the Janjaweed, or “devils on horseback,” to attack hundreds, if not thousands of the non-Islamic villages that reside throughout the Darfur region (Council 1).  So, since this genocide began in 2003, the Sudanese Government has been responsible for the killings of over 400,000 farmers and villagers in Darfur, and has forced over 2,500,000 more to flee their homes, and even the country. 

It is the moral and self obligated duty of the United States to help the thousands of innocent people who are still suffering in Darfur today.  We are supposed to be the leader of the free world, and we, the United States, have taken it upon ourselves throughout history to liberate many peoples from tyranny and dictatorship.  One would think, that after standing idly by while the people of South Africa suffered for decades under the brutal policies of the apartheid regime, the United States would have maybe learned from the past.  Due to the United States’ decision to avoid becoming directly involved in the liberation of South Africa during the apartheid years, its people suffered greatly.  To this day, South Africa continues to suffer from many difficult issues and problems, almost all of which began during the apartheid years. 

The United States should intervene in Darfur and stop the ongoing slaughter of thousands of Sudanese.  Do not be mistaken, this is an attempt by the Islamic government of Sudan to wipe out Darfur’s native African population to clear the way for Arabs (CBS 1).  If we choose to do nothing to help the Sudanese people, there will be grave consequences of our inaction.  First of all, if the United States does nothing to stop the government backed genocide happening in Sudan, then who will?  The reality of the situation is that nobody will likely come to Sudan’s aid.  The United States has the world’s strongest military, a military that could easily go to Sudan and uproot its corrupt and evil government from power.  The situation probably wouldn’t be much different than when U.S. forces went to Kuwait’s aid and turned Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi army back to Iraq in the first Gulf War.  So, without our help, millions of innocent Sudanese will continue to live in fear every day and the genocide will continue to claim thousands of lives.  Second of all, if we do not help these people, our reputation throughout the rest of the world will be tarnished and just like in South Africa today, the Sudanese people will hold personal grudges against the United States that they will likely carry with them for the rest of their lives.  These people, with grudges against the U.S., could very well one day decide to become a terrorist, and attack innocent Americans.  Past U.S. presidential administrations have made promises to help “prevent” or “suppress” genocides (Mayroz 1).  It is time we live up to that claim, and stop the killing.  A third consequence that would come from the U.S not getting involved would be the obvious… to save thousands of lives!!!  Every day people are being killed in Darfur and even more are fleeing their homes, leaving their whole lives behind.  This is senseless and their isn’t any justification at all for what is being done to these people.  We have the power to do something about it and we should.  As a democracy, we, the United States, naturally have enemies throughout the world, especially this region.  If the U.S. did do something, it would be a win-win situation, as horribly selfish that may sound.  Not only would thousands of Sudanese be liberated and no longer have to live in fear of being killed by their own government, but there would be one less extreme Islamist government (that may have connections to terrorist organizations), in the world to worry about it.  So not only would the Sudanese be saved, we would have one less potential enemy in this troubled region of the world to lose sleep over.

Of course there are people who will not agree with what I am advocating… that being the U.S. becoming militarily involved in the genocide happening in Darfur today.  Now some objectors might say, “Who cares about Sudan?  We don’t have to worry about them.  Why commit our time and our money to such a cause?”  To those people, I would say to look to the future.  If we do nothing, and this extreme Islamist government is allowed to rule with absolute impunity, who is to say that the country won’t become a breeding ground for Al Qaeda, or similar terrorist groups which wish to harm America, and carry out attacks on civilians on U.S. soil?  Think about it.  This is not that farfetched of an idea.  Say there was a terrorist attack on U.S. soil twenty years from now, and after investigation, it became known that the people responsible for the attack were Sudanese grown terrorists discontent over America’s lack of involvement in Darfur during the government backed genocide that is happening right now?  If that happened, what would we say?  I’m not sure that there would be anything to say, other than the truth, which would be that we could have avoided American loss of life had we done something about Sudan twenty years earlier.  We would definitely be kicking ourselves for not taking action and doing something when we had the chance. 

So, if there is anything I wish the readers of this paper, and the American people to realize, is that the United States has an obligation to intervene in Darfur.  With each passing day, more and more innocent Sudanese are being slaughtered, and they are incapable of defending themselves.  We must defend the defenseless!  If saving thousands of innocent lives isn’t enough incentive for America to take action, think about this country’s future safety and security.  Not doing anything to help could very well come back to haunt us in the not to distant future.  To ensure that we, as the United States of America, stay on the good side of the Sudanese people, and other peoples throughout the world, we must bring ourselves to action.  If we do not do something sooner rather than later, this problem will only get worse, and I can guarantee you, we will have to deal with it sometime.  So, spread the word, tell your friends, tell them to tell their friends, and put pressure on our politicians.  This isn’t just the safety and security of the Sudanese people we are talking about, this is the safety and security of this country’s future, and that, is not something to take lightly. 

Works Cited

"United Human Rights Council." United Human Rights Council. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2013.

"Witnessing Genocide In Sudan." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 11 Feb. 2009. Web. 12 May 2013.

Mayroz, Eyal. "Ever Again? The United States, Genocide Suppression, And The Crisis In Darfur." Journal Of Genocide Research 10.3 (2008): 359-388. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 May 2013.