Middle East crisis

Interesting article in New York Times magazine about the situation in the Middle East.

Meeting a war criminal

Today was the meeting at work with Minni Minawi, commander of the Sudan Liberation Army, one of the main Darfur rebel groups (except suddenly everyone got very politically correct and started referring to him as "chairman of the SLM" - the political wing of the SLA - instead).

He and his entourage were late arriving, so all the humanitarian and policy thinktank people there to meet with him got to have a mini-meeting on the current situation in Darfur. Lots of discussion of the fact that since the Darfur Peace Agreement was signed, there's been lots of fighting between Minawi's faction, which signed the agreement, and non-signers. Civilians are reporting being attacked by Minawi's forces and women are alleged to have been raped by them.

Our brave humanitarians say they will confront Minawi about these accusations and see what he has to say for himself. They say they will withhold their support for him until he honors the ceasefire.

Minawi and his group finally arrive, and everyone is immediately kissing a**. "Oh, Mr. Minawi, we're so glad to have you with us today". Everyone wants to shake his hand.

Down to business. Everyone asks political questions, about the situation in Sudan, how to implement the Darfur Peace Agreement, blah blah blah. But nobody is asking about the civilians who are being attacked, and raped, and murdered. Minawi says he is very glad to have the humanitarian agencies working in Darfur, that they are needed to help and protect the people. But nobody says, "What about you, Mr. Minawi, what are you doing to protect the people? How about not raping and murdering them?" Nobody urges him to comply with international humanitarian law. Nobody says that our community won't support him until he honors the ceasefire.

Finally a woman from a human rights organization asks him about a report that several of his soldiers raped some women near Tawila. Minawi says that he investigated, and that the reports were untrue and were made up by his enemies to make the SLA look bad. Of course. My colleagues scribble in their notebooks; no one challenges him.

Minawi says the Sudanese government should compensate the people of Darfur for violations of human rights which they have suffered at the government's hands. Nobody brings up the violations he has committed.

Finally the meeting is over. Everyone wants to shake his hand again, give him their business cards.

Call me naive, but sucking up to war criminals was not what I had in mind when I decided to work in this field.

The rebel commander

Here is what I have learned so far about Minni Minawi, the rebel commander I will be meeting on Friday:

He is a commander of one of the main factions of the Sudan Liberation Army, one of the two main rebel groups in Darfur. He is the only rebel leader to have signed the Darfur Peace Agreement so far (which explains why he is coming to the US - the US government wants to support the Agreement and pressure other leaders into signing).

But since the agreement was signed, lots of factions who are against the agreement have split off, and now there is lots of fighting in Darfur between the different rebel groups, those who are for the agreement vs. those who are against it.

Minawi's forces are accused of attacking civilians and murdering those who are opposed to the agreement.

So, on Friday I will be meeting my first war criminal (haven't met Bush and his pals yet).

US and Middle East conflict

Today's headline in the NYTimes: "US Speeds Up Bomb Delivery for the Israelis". So now we can be clearly implicated in a whole new set of war crimes and give the Arab world yet another reason to hate us. Good job, Bush administration.

Messed up relationships

I was at the airport yesterday to pick up a friend who's visiting me for the weekend, and as I was walking through the terminal a woman stopped me and asked if I would do her a favor. Sure, I say, always willing to be of help. She says, "I'm going to call my boyfriend on my cell phone, and would you mind telling him that we're at Tysons Mall? He doesn't know I'm traveling." Um, okay.

First I thought how terrible it is that this woman's boyfriend trusts her so little that he's more likely to believe a stranger telling him where she is than he is to believe her. Then I realized he's right not to trust her, because she is in fact lying to him.

So glad my life is not that messed up.

Meeting a rebel commander and dreaming about being one

A commander of the Sudan Liberation Army (one of the Darfur rebel groups) is coming to a meeting at work next week. I thought the meeting was today and got all excited about it - I've met presidents and other important people before, but never a rebel commander - I'm really curious to see what he'll be like - will he seem like a nice guy?

After getting all excited about it last night, when I was still thinking the meeting was today, I had this great dream where I was part of a Darfur Resistance movement (like the French Resistance during World War II - I don't think a Darfur Resistance movement `a la my dream actually exists). I was wearing a turban and djellaba, and had to help captured Darfuris escape from janjaweed slave raiders. So I distracted the bad guys while the Darfuris ran away, and then the bad guys chased me around Rock Creek Park until I woke up. It was really fun!

Am I just waaay too into politics?

Holding a baby in hospice

I spent several hours yesterday holding a dying baby at the hospice where I volunteer. Sounds incredibly depressing, but really it wasn't. I love babies, and holding her wasn't really different from holding any other baby, except that I had to pay close attention to her breathing.

It did provide me some good time to think about what's important in life, which is something I really like about volunteering at the hospice. It's a great perspective check when I start getting stressed about little things at work and in the rest of my life.

The war in Lebanon

Just need to vent... Israel is destroying Lebanon, and what do they think they're going to gain from it? They may be able to push Hezbollah away from the blue line, but Hezbollah will always come back. Especially if Israel goes back to that whole "strategic depth" idea and re-occupies Lebanon.

And where, in all of this, is the Lebanese government? All the news talks about is Israel vs. Hezbollah, with a little discussion of Syria and Iran's roles thrown in. Has everyone forgotten that Lebanon is (at least supposed to be) a sovereign state? And that while Hezbollah may be represented in Parliament, it doesn't lead the government? Why don't we hear anything about the Lebanese government, except for the occasional sound bite bemoaning casualties and damage to infrastructure? What are they doing? Why don't they step up and act like leaders?