By Rob JackmanThe Daily Northwestern
Today I call on Northwestern’s student body to stand up and resist the American imperialist ambitions in Sudan! Certain members of America’s political elite, who shall go unnamed, are calling for “humanitarian intervention” in the Darfur region. The ugly head of unilateral intervention rears itself again and must be stopped.
Should America intervene, it would be in clear contradiction of international law. Supporters of the war complain that “hundreds of thousands are dying,” but we should not be so easily fooled by this moralistic rhetoric. There is only one institution that may confer legitimacy on military action – the United Nations. No matter what the condition a region or nation, the consent of America, France, China, Great Britain and Russia is required for a military intervention to be moral. It is also morally imperative that other members of the Security Council are sufficiently bribed with trade deals, so that they vote for a resolution to intervene.
Should America intervene, it would become mired in a multi-party civil war. The ethnic and religious conflict in the Darfur region is simply the latest in a long string of civil wars. America must not put its troops in harm’s way for an open-ended conflict. Intervention in Sudan, a nation that poses no imminent threat to the United States, would lead to an occupation of indeterminate length, at indeterminate costs and with undetermined consequences.
Should America intervene, it will fan the flames of Muslims worldwide. Intervention would be a direct assault on the Islamic leadership of Khartoum in the interests of the Christian world. The aggressive action against a Muslim government will be used as yet another recruiting tool of al-Qaida.
Should America intervene, America would be exposed for selectively overthrowing a tyranny based on nothing else but its own cold self-interest. There are many other tyrannies in this world, so clearly overthrowing only one is immoral. Given that the United States even supports governments such as Saudi Arabia and neighboring Egypt, any action against Sudan must be considered selective and unconscionable. Perhaps the true reason that certain Americans want to take military action against Sudan is this: Sudan ‘s number one export is oil.
Sudan had no connection to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and does not possess weapons of mass destruction. Since it poses no direct threat to the United States and its allies, pre-emptive military action would be morally unconscionable. America cannot simply go around the world imposing democracy at will. Sudan is a sovereign nation. No matter how many Sudanese people government-sponsored militias kill, the government retains that sole sovereignty.
NU students must fight this international act of bullying. The people of foreign nations may be murdered en masse, raped, pillaged and displaced from their homes, but America has no right to stop this. America must not make the unpardonable mistake of ending government oppression and murder in a foreign land.
Weinberg senior Rob Jackman can be reached at [email protected].
