The Sudan

The genocide that is occurring in the Sudan keeps trying to bubble to the surface of our consciousness, only to be resubmerged by the media's obsession with Clinton's "My Big Fat Booring Life" and "Why Does Michael Moore Hate America?"

Phil Carter attempts to analyze the situation in Sudan in light of the need for an overhauling of our military establishment as well as the toll of the stress the occupation in Iraq is taking on our ability to respond to humanitarian crises and potential failed states.

Imagine if USAID had an expeditionary nation-building capability of its own — a force of diplomats, aid workers, doctors, engineers, lawyers (but not too many), and a few units of soldiers for security. Or, imagine if USAID could at least call on an ad hoc task force of U.S. Army civil affairs units and build an ad hoc force of contractors for the mission. Then, we might actually be able to stop what's happening in the Sudan, because we could go in to ensure this humanitarian aid got where it needed to go, and this pithy militia was stopped in its tracks. But that's not going to happen. Why? Because first, no such "expeditionary nation building capability exists yet. Second, the American military's nation-building capabilities are so committed to Iraq and Afghanistan that there's nothing more to give.