By Lily Jasper, Grade 10
I want to examine some of the reasons the U.S. is committing our people and money to Iraq and Afghanistan instead of Darfur. Our lives and our country were forever changed by the events of September 11th, 2001. both Iraq and Afghanistan are in crisis, but so is Darfur. Here is a look at some of the differences.
The U.S. government might have a hidden agenda. On October 7th, 2001, the U.S. army invaded Afghanistan in response to the attack of 9/11 by a terrorist organization known as Al-Qaeda, led by Saudi-born Osama bin Laden. It is composed of Muslim extremists and a literal version of Islam Wahhabi Sunni, called Tafkin, literally meaning, “one who discovers or destroys infidels.” The U.S. army invaded Iraq because the government thought Saddam Hussein had WMD (weapons of mass destruction). In 2002, Colin L. Powell presented evidence to the United nations that Saddam Hussein’s government possessed WMDs and was prepared to use them against the U.S. and our Allies. The U.S. did offer Saddam an ultimatum, which he didn’t accept so we invaded Iraq in March 2003. Another reason we invaded Iraq was because of the safe-haven Saddam provided for the terrorist groups Suedas Ansar-Al-Islam and Al-Qaeda. To sum it all up, we have spent a lot of money and resources on this problem.
On the other hand, Darfur is a southwestern region in Sudan. Currently, there is a civil war. There are two different sides. One side is the government of Sudan; the other side is the rebels. The reason both sides are in conflict is because the government wants land. Now the government had enlisted janjaweed. The janjaweed are bandits hired by the government to attack innocent civilians in Darfur and scare off people who might be in contact with the rebels. They will use methods such as rape and murder. This is categorized as genocide. Genocide is the deliberate killing of a large group of people, specifically those of a particular ethnic group or nation. The government is out to get the rebels and is ready to attack anyone connected to them. One of the major reasons this is going on in Darfur is because the Chinese purchase oil from Sudan and the Sudanese then use the money they receive from China to purchase weapons from Russia.
Now why are we in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting a war instead of saving people in Darfur, Sudan? The reason we are in Iraq and Afghanistan is because like the Chinese, we too need oil. Our population demands it. We are not in Sudan because if we try to stop the genocide, we won’t get anything out of it except the good feeling. We don’t get oil or money. To put it bluntly, there is no profit in saving Darfur. When George W. Bush found out that there were no WMDs in Iraq or Afghanistan, he decided out of money-minded reasons, that Iraq had more to offer to the United States than Darfur. If we tried to invade Sudan and take their oil, we might wind up in a war with China because we would be taking oil from Sudan that China pays for.
