- Originally published in the Chicago Sun Times on August 31, 2004 [here ]
Copyright © The Sun-Times Company
BY JESSE JACKSON
When Colin Powell nominated himself to preside at the Olympics, the
Greeks demonstrated in protest spontaneously. Their leaders opposed any
demonstration, worried that Greece would be embarrassed at the
Olympics. But the outrage at America's war in Iraq is so great that the
molten hot demonstrations led Powell to cancel his trip, pleading other
obligations.
When Republicans gathered in New York for their convention,
demonstrators numbering about 500,000 filled up Seventh Avenue for two
miles. Democrats opposed the demonstrations, worried they would benefit
President Bush. This extraordinary rally was a spontaneous expression
of the depth of opposition to Bush's policies, particularly the war in
Iraq.
In the Sudan, from which I just returned, America's presence is needed
and sought. The worst humanitarian catastrophe in the world is
deepening. I visited refugee camps built on sand. More than 50,000
people from one village had trekked more than 100 miles to get there.
Their entire community had been burnt and razed by the militia forces
that the government condones. The conditions are indescribable. Disease
and hunger are spreading.
The African Union has offered to send troops, but desperately needs
U.S. logistical assistance and transport assistance. The United Nations
has helped to force talks, but these could be made real if Powell were
to shuttle between Darfur and Khartoum rather than between Washington
and Athens.
Across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, America has never suffered
such hostility. The invasion of Iraq is widely seen as a play for oil,
or a war on Islam. The occupation, opposed now by 97 percent of Iraqis
in polls, isolates America. Even among our allies, like Jordan or Egypt
or Pakistan, an overwhelming percentage of the population opposes us.
But U.S. support for the intervention of the U.N. and the African Union
to stop the genocide in Darfur would be widely applauded. Direct troop
intervention would be a mistake, and treated with suspicion, since the
Sudan also has potential oil. But if the United States would offer to
transport the forces assembled by the AU and joined European allies to
provide more food, shelter and real assistance for the displaced, it
would be hailed for its efforts across the world.
Here is one measure of the terrible costs of Iraq. U.S. casualties
continue to mount, now numbering several thousand killed and wounded.
U.S. costs, borne virtually alone, continue to soar -- more than $150
billion and counting at $1 billion a week. The military continues to be
taxed to its limits. The attention of Pentagon leaders and the foreign
policy apparatus is fixed on the mess in Iraq.
As a result, the human catastrophe in the Sudan goes with too little
attention. The military says it can't spare the transport needed for
the African Union. The president wouldn't want to make another request
for money for a foreign policy initiative. The national security
apparatus would largely prefer to let the U.N. handle the crisis and
hope it goes away.
Iraq was Bush's wrong choice: the wrong war at the wrong time for the
wrong reasons, fought with the wrong plan (or no plan at all). And the
direct consequences are already apparent: the United States more
isolated and less admired; Osama bin Laden gaining in popularity across
the Muslim world.
The indirect consequences are equally damning. We're mired in an
occupation that fuels anger across the globe, and are too strapped in
troops, resources and leadership to act in a humanitarian mission that
could earn us credit across the globe. We're stuck where we aren't
wanted, and unable to go to where we're desperately needed.
Bush seems simply oblivious to all this. We're killing terrorists in
Iraq, he claims, never acknowledging that we are creating many more
fanatical enemies than we are slaying. And the victims aren't simply
the U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians. The victims include the
beleaguered children of Darfur whose lives might be saved were the
United States free to do good and not shackled to the self-destructive
debacle in Iraq.