Omar
Hassan
al-Bashir of Sudan
By
Don
Cheadle
and
John
Prendergast
A
top-100 list gives Omar al-Bashir too much company. In a number of ignominious post-World War II
categories,
Sudan
's dictator ranks in the top five: most deaths as a result of war strategies (2.5 million in Darfur
and southern
Sudan
), most people rendered homeless by scorched-earth policies (7 million), most villages burned to the
ground (at least 1,500 in
Darfur
alone). Bashir's one goal is to maintain power. He has sown discord in
Darfur
with a classic divide-and-conquer strategy. As a result, interethnic conflict is tearing the region
apart, and attacks on aid agencies by government and rebel militias have left a million people
beyond the reach of humanitarian aid. Bashir, 63, has blocked the deployment of a larger U.N.-led
peacekeeping operation that would protect
Darfur
's civilians. And yet something good may come from Bashir's bloody legacy. In universities,
synagogues, churches and town halls across the
U.S.
, Americans are writing letters and raising hell about
Washington
's inaction in response to
Darfur
. Citizen groups around the world are following suit. In a
David-vs.-Goliath
scenario, only the activism of ordinary people will galvanize the action necessary to stop Bashir
and future war criminals.
EDITORIAL:
WE
URGE TIME MAGAZINE TO DO SOME SOUL
AND
IN-DEPTH SEARCH
AND
TELL THE WORLD COMMUNITY WHY IT FAILED TO INCLUDE THE
FOLLOWING AFRICAN FASCISTS ON ITS LIST OF THE IGNOMINIOUS. WE WILL PROVIDE DATA TO DEMONSTRATE THAT
THEY ALL COMMITTED TRIBAL/ETHNIC GENOCIDE. (05/04/07)