from TrueMajority.org :
We Can Save 600,000 People If We Act Now Genocide is underway in Sudan. The contrast in our government’s response to Sudan and Iraq is striking. Bush was willing to buck the United Nations and spend $200 billion to invade Iraq (most recently for humanitarian reasons). Now, for a few hundred million dollars and little risk to our armed forces, we really can stop a government from slaughtering a million of its own people. Instead, the Bush administration has ducked the issue by refusing to call it genocide. Why? Because the United States is party to a treaty that would force us to take strong action if they did. Now a bipartisan push is taking hold in Congress to call this genocide and get our government to act. The House resolution (H. Con. Res. 467) is moving quickly, and a vote may come as quickly as next week. In the Senate, Sen. Brownback (R-KS) and Sen. Corzine (D-NJ) have just introduced a resolution (S. Con. Res. 124) that would also call this genocide and require strong action. To send a message to your Senators and Representatives telling them to call the atrocities in Darfur genocide, click here: http://action.truemajority.org/ctt.asp?u=184283&l=742 WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR. Letters to the editor are another powerful way to influence your members of Congress. This feature uses state-of-the-art technology to make it really easy for you to submit a letter to the editor. Click here to give it a try: http://action.truemajority.org/ctt.asp?u=184283&l=743 Here is what's happening: Over the last several months, a government-backed Arab militia in Sudan called the Janjuweed has been attacking black Africans. The Janjuweed tactics are crude but effective. They enter a village and use terror to force everyone to leave their homes and crops. Entire populations have fled to distant camps in the middle of desolate areas. These desert camps are now surrounded and controlled by the Janjuweed, and anyone who tries to leave is raped or killed. Unarmed international aid workers are turned away. A total of 370,000 human beings are already dead or in the late stages of dying from starvation in these extermination camps. The death toll could reach 1 million within the next few months. Time is our worst enemy. Every day 1,000 people are dying in these camps. Currently, starvation is taking the weakest-70% of the dead are children five and under. As time goes on, the death toll will rise more quickly. The United States needs to ensure that food aid is brought to the people of Darfur with protection from an international military force. Congress has already allocated tens of millions of dollars for this mission and seems willing to allocate millions more if needed. The problem is that the Bush administration is unwilling to take the decisive action needed to make sure the food aid is safely delivered to those who need it most. Instead, they are calling on the corrupt Sudanese government to disarm their allies, the Janjuweed, and allow the food aid in. To pressure the Sudanese government, the Bush administration is talking about using sanctions, a process that will take months-long enough to kill everyone currently starving in the camps. That is why it is crucial that Congress speaks out now. To send a message to your Senators and Representatives telling them to call the atrocities in Darfur genocide, just click here: http://action.truemajority.org/ctt.asp?u=184283&l=742 Ben To learn more about what is happening in Darfur, you can check out our friends at Res Publica at http://www.darfurgenocide.org Calls for action from newspapers throughout the country have been compiled by the Center for American Progress at http://action.truemajority.org/ctt.asp?u=184283&l=744 Nicholas D. Kristof, columnist for the New York Times, has put together this slide show about his trip to Darfur: http://action.truemajority.org/ctt.asp?u=184283&l=745 Rep. Frank Wolfe (D-VA) recently visited Darfur and has created this report, complete with photos, of what he saw: http://action.truemajority.org/ctt.asp?u=184283&l=746 Letter to Senators/Representative: Dear Senators/Representative: Genocide is taking place in Sudan, and we must act to stop it. Aid agencies are routinely turned away from camps by the government-backed Janjuweed militia. We must act today to do everything we can to stop the killing of the people of Darfur. President Bush and Secretary Powell have been unwilling to call these atrocities genocide, but that is exactly what they are. Our nation is morally and legally bound to prevent genocide; that is why you must act. Please support the bipartisan resolutions moving through Congress that call the killing in Darfur genocide. Sincerely, (We'll put your name and address here.)
