Support Darfur...but don't forget Iraq

I never wanted this blog to be a platform for explicit political ranting. And the plan was always to focus on positive action. But an article I've just finished reading gave me real pause for thought.

The consequences of the complex, in many ways state-sponsored civil war in Darfur are terrible. And people from across the political spectrum, the EU and the UN, together with the media and celebrities various have quite rightly united in condemnation.

Which begs the question of why there hasn't been such a united compassionate response to what is happening in Iraq.

Because the bald facts are that the situation in Iraq is even worse than in Darfur. And here we have to park our views on the rights and wrongs of the invasion, the existence (or otherwise) of WMDs, the needs of the 'war on terror' and the fact that 'our boys' are out there, and look instead to escalating human misery felt by real, ordinary people.

The highest level figure for deaths in Darfur is 400,000. As of 2006, around 650,000 Iraqis have died since the US/UK invasion. More than 4 million have lost their homes, around half of whom have been internally displaced. The other 2 million are languishing in squalid refugee camps in neighbouring countries. Basic services such as electricity and clean drinking water are in short supply, and infant mortality has shot up. One third of Iraqis need emergency humanitarian aid, according to Oxfam, 70% are without adequate water supplies (up from 50% in 2003) and 28% of children are malnourished (up from a pre-invasion figure of 19%).

All in the name of democracy, of preventing civil war and of protecting civilian lives. Surely there must be a better way to make a difference.

Comments

[Charles Frith]

As long as Western life is perceived as more valuable than others the situation will continue. Like you John I am unhappy with our collective actions in Iraq.