U.S. should stay out of Darfur and pay attention to itself
In Contact your representatives and pay attention to Darfur (SN 10/5), Tom Choske, the president of Spartans for Richardson, argues that our country should become involved in ending civil strife in Darfur. He neglects to explain why we should do this, how Darfur even matters to our national interest, or why it is our supposed moral obligation to invade another country that has not attacked us. The last elective war has cost our country thousands of lives and billions of dollars. Would it be radical to say that perhaps we should refrain from jumping into another one?
Choske seems to not understand exactly what is happening in Darfur. He concludes his letter by stating, “Help us prevent another 500,000 from dying a needless death because of our apathy.” Other than some sort of “America is the cause of the world’s problems” mentality that Choske may have, I cannot surmise why he absurdly thinks that it is “our apathy” that is killing people in Darfur. It is not “our apathy” that is doing the killing.
We need a president that will put our national interests first. The person who will take our soldiers out of the Middle East and put them on the U.S.-Mexican border will receive my vote in the next election.
Kyle Bristow
international relations junior and Young Americans for Freedom chairman
Published on Monday, October 8, 2007
Comments
Santiago Rolento
10/08/07 @ 8:45pm
I saw this:
“The person who will take our soldiers out of the Middle East and put them on the U.S.-Mexican border will receive my vote in the next election.”
and then I saw who wrote this and everything made sense.
J. Edward Tremlett
10/08/07 @ 9:50pm
The whole letter was published here:
http://spartanspectator.blogspot.com/2007/10/unpublished-letter-to-editor-of-state.html
Note the telling excision: the last bit of the second paragraph should read “It is not “our apathy” that is doing the killing; it is Muslims who are killing black Christians, enslaving them, and displacing them.”
Juan
10/09/07 @ 8:02am
Kyle, you are going to hell so may God bless you not. Ever heard of terrorists coming through the Canadian border?
Mo
10/09/07 @ 8:26am
Kyle, the reason we SHOULD be involved in the Darfur, is that genocide is occurring there. It is written in the UN Charter that that body will act to prevent genocide. As a member of the national security council we have, throught the UN charter, and obligation to act to prevent these types of crimes. If your in the belief that lossing a jobs to needy Mexicans is worse than murderers or terrorist, then you’ve got some real problems. Its this kind of stuff that makes people this the YAF is a racist organization. We should be protecting our boarders, but not at the expense of protecting national security abroad or allowing genocide to occur.
Tom Choske
10/09/07 @ 9:52am
Response to Mr. Bristow’s letter “U.S. should stay out of Darfur and pay attention to itself” (The State News, 10/09/07) I must say I respect and welcome Mr. Bristow’s viewpoint on Darfur. He brings up a valid point that the United States has as its first responsibility the duty to protect its citizens and its founding principles. By the way, when his letter was written on October 8th, Sudanese government forces and proxy forces attacked and destroyed a village controlled by the Sudanese Liberation Army, a group with which they have an established cease-fire. 100 people were killed and the town was razed. I ask you if the murder of innocent civilians in the midst of a cease-fire violates our belief in ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ or not. Mr. Bristow gathered from my previous letter that I was of the opinion we should ‘invade’ Sudan or use our troops. This couldn’t be further from the case. The United States has the economic and political might necessary to make the changes without troops.
We need the Bush Administration to put some of its highest ranking diplomats on this issue, giving it the attention it deserves. We need to diplomatically target Sudan’s economic partners, such as China, to force change in Khartoum. We need to prevent the conflict from spreading to neighboring nations such as Chad through engaging the African Union and other regional partners. We should moderate productive discussions between the regime and rebel groups officially. Finally, if we are to stand for international law against genocide, we should join the International Criminal Court. These six steps are Governor Richardson’s plan to end the genocide. However, we can’t wait till January 20, 2009 to see these policies implemented. We, as citizens, need to stand with the Governor and oppose the outright massacre of innocent civilians every day until the crisis is resolved. This can be done by supporting targeted divestment policies in your state, you community, or even checking your own finances to make sure you are not supporting companies that support genocide.
yeah
10/09/07 @ 12:03pm
The Sudanese government is RIGHT wing scum—that is why Bristow doesn’t want to smash them.
shiming
10/09/07 @ 12:18pm
why does it have to be in our nation’s interest to help another? that is why all the countries around the world hate us so much, we only engage in humanitarian acts for our own political and economical benefit. why should we invade that country? because hundreds of thousands of innocents are being slaughtered you ignorant racist.
the only reason we are in this deep financial hole is because we acted out of our own interest for oil in the first place, neglecting the pleas of the other nations.
it should be our responsibility because we are the nation power and influence. we discourage other nations in developing weapons and army telling them that we will protect, when the time comes we say it is not in our interest to help? it is people like kyle that holds political influence that has tarnish the reputation of America for so long.
also instead of acting out of the nation’s immediate interest, we help Mexico develop economically and politically then the immigrants wouldn’t need to cross the border.
Not surprised
10/09/07 @ 3:18pm
Good to see that Kyle is still living in the cross hairs.
The Mcihgian Conservative Dossier
10/10/07 @ 11:29am
SLWS!
The Michigan Conservative Dossier
10/10/07 @ 11:29am
SLWS!
Townsend
10/10/07 @ 12:52pm
Anything Kyle Bristow and his ultra-right-wing hate group Young American’s for Freedom (YAF) advocate, normal, balanced individuals should vehemently oppose.
i don't buy it
10/10/07 @ 4:38pm
The radical Muslims that are killing the Christians in Darfur are not going to be swayed by disinvestment. If your willing to kill yourself in persuit of killing innocent civilians for the purposes of ushering in jihad, I hardly believe political pressure will sway them in the least. Radical Muslims have set up camp in Sudan for a reason. From there they are able to launch piracy attacks on international shipping to hold commerce hostage.