Congress folk arrested

Remember when Miss Conspiracy-Theorist wondered why OBL suddenly brought up Darfur? She thought it was because the world is getting tired of The Defenders of Freedom Brigade were doing nothing to stop the atrocities there while defending the Iraq war by saying they were in fact The Defenders of Freedom Brigade. That was before I, as her keeper, knew that there were mass protests against the Sudanese government.

Now we learn that members of Congress not only participated in these protest, but were arrested during their participation.

“The slaughter of the people of Darfur must end,” Rep. Tom Lantos , D-Calif., a Holocaust survivor who founded the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, said from the embassy steps before his arrest.

Four other Democratic House members â€” Reps. James McGovern and John Olver of Massachusetts, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and Jim Moran of Virginia â€” were among 11 protesters arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly, a misdemeanor subject to a fine.

The five lawmakers were released after being booked at a D.C. police station and paying $50 fines. During the protest, the five were willingly arrested and led away from the embassy front steps in plastic handcuffs.

I don’t even care if they did it for political reasons. I’m glad that they allowed themselves to be arrested for such a noble cause. I’m thinking, though, that it may be too little too late for the hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced. Luckily for all of us the king has finally decided to weigh in.

At the White House,
President Bush met with Darfur advocates on Friday and lent his support to rallies planned in more than a dozen cities around the country this weekend to protest the violence in the embattled western region of Sudan.

“The genocide in Sudan is unacceptable,” Bush said. “There will be rallies across our country to send a message to the Sudanese government that the genocide must stop. … I want the Sudanese government to understand the United States of America is serious about solving this problem.”

The genocide in Iraq was unacceptable too and, according to the talking points, that’s why our troops are over there now- saving the Iraqi people from certain death or displacement. So why is the king asking the Sudanese government to step in and stop the genocide there? Oh, that’s right, the Janjaweed are government backed forces of evil. Therefore, asking that government to stop what it’s been helping is just a tad fucking ridiculous.

I supported the invasion of Afghanistan and I would support an invasion of Darfur. I support anyone that actually stands up against real genocide- even for political gain (if it stops the slaughter). I say if we’re going to go about freeing the oppressed peoples of the world (Iraq) then we should do that across the board (Darfur). I’m pretty sure that won’t happen though.

Iraq was never about liberating the oppressed.

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