Darfur

Nicholas Kristof has done as much to raise the awareness of the American public to the genocide in Darfur as anyone. He does acknowledge that Bush has done more than most Europeans leaders, and his action did save "tens of thousands of lives," but more needs to be done.

The Darfur situation, after a few months of looking a bit more hopeful, is deteriorating sharply. The rebels have grown more intransigent, and security on the ground is getting worse. Save the Children has now had four aid workers killed in Darfur, and aid groups are pulling back.

"The present situation in Darfur is therefore that of a time bomb, which could explode at any moment," Maj. Gen. Festus Okonkwo, the commander of an African Union force, said at a press conference yesterday. He said an "astronomical" amount of weaponry had been brought into Darfur, and suggested that the fighting was now poised to get much worse.

Kristof has some suggestions for both Bush and for the public. I wrote to my senators and representative earlier in the year. This article is a good reminder to do that again.