ICC indicts Sudan President Bashir for Darfur genocide
In a potentially earth-shaking move, the International Criminal Court has charged Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir with war crimes related to the Darfur genocide. LINK
Luis Moreno-Ocampo on Monday urged a three-judge panel to issue an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to prevent the deaths of about 2.5 million people forced from their homes in the war-torn region of Darfur and who are still under attack from government-backed Janjaweed militia.
The five charges against al-Bashir include masterminding attempts to wipe out African tribes in the war-torn region with a campaign of murder, rape and deportation.
I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, yes, Bashir is a war criminal. He IS responsible for hundreds of thousands, likely millions, of deaths in Darfur. He's a totalitarian leader with no consideration for his people and he's impossible to negotiate with. On the other hand, it's not like he's actually going to be arrested. There's no way for the ICC to enforce this warrant, so all it really does is make the Sudanese government that much more pissed off at the West, making it that much less likely any lasting peace deal can get done.
My friend May, who's been over there as an aid worker and knows more about the region than anybody I know, called this "the worst setback to the peace process that has happened in Sudan in recent years."
I wonder what'll happen.
Iraq, Afghanistan Vets and Substance Abuse
I caught an article on military.com worth a read today. It's been clear for months that soldiers coming back from Iraq aren't getting the support they need. Things don't seem to be getting much better. Link:
Most nights when Anthony Klecker, a former marine, finally slept, he found himself back on the battlefields of Iraq. He would awake in a panic, and struggle futilely to return to sleep.
Days were scarcely better. Car alarms shattered his nerves. Flashbacks came unexpectedly, at the whiff of certain cleaning chemicals. Bar fights seemed unavoidable; he nearly attacked a man for not washing his hands in the bathroom.
Desperate for sleep and relief, Mr. Klecker, 30, drank heavily. One morning, his parents found him in the driveway slumped over the wheel of his car, the door wide open, wipers scraping back and forth. Another time, they found him curled in a fetal position in his closet.
Yet only after his drunken driving caused the death of a 16-year-old cheerleader did Mr. Klecker acknowledge the depth of his problem: His eight months at war had profoundly damaged his psyche.
“I was trying to be the tough marine I was trained to be — not to talk about problems, not to cry,” said Mr. Klecker, who has since been diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder. “I imprisoned myself in my own mind.”
The article moves on from his individual example to examine the big picture.
Journal 7.6
I’ve had about four days of calm. More than that, improvement. As of yesterday, I have an immune system again, albeit a vulnerable one (my doctors made an analogy calling it a “baby immune system” since all the cells are completely new and not all that strong). I also have enough platelets in my bloodstream that if I got shanked in a bar fight, I could probably make it to the ER if my friend drove fast enough and didn’t make any wrong turns. I’ve also gained a few pounds, my eyes are looking better and I just feel stronger overall. It’s hard to believe I’m the same guy who vomited all that bile in the trash a few days ago.
I’m probably going home Wednesday. No, really this time. It’s not a tenuous thing… it’s something the doctors are planning on. They just want to see me stay as stable as I am for another day or two and wean me off the pain/nausea medications before they let me go.
I’ve been hospitalized since April 28th (except a day and a half in early May) and now it’s July. When I went in, if I recall correctly, gas was still under $3.50. Now… … yeah… well, I don’t expect to be driving for awhile, anyway. That “baby immune system” of mine isn’t quite ready for many public places yet, and my colitis is still completely out of control. Since I’m only going to be home for a maximum of 10-15 days, tops, there’s just not opportunity for much travel. But that’s ok. I have plenty to do at home and hope to have a lot of visitors.
Streaks of White
6/6/08
Every morning look outside the window
Watch the ants a marchin down the freeway
Almost wishing I was them 'cause I don’t have the choice
But only 'cause I don’t have the choiceWhen everything you know gets ripped away
In the time it takes to read the doctor's face
Wondering if I will live but trying not to cry
Trying not to cryHear strangers screaming out into the night
Wonder what dark things they must be facing
Every night it's something else, the pain is in the walls
The pain is in the wallsBut then I started seeing miracles
In all the things I used to take for granted
Saw vibrance where I once saw grey, and light in everything
Light in everythingSaw friends I hadn't seen in years and years
Reaching out so scared with blind compassion
Feeling how they wish me well, I want it even harder
I want it even harderAnd I will live today the best I can
So each tomorrow greets me like a bonus
Day by day I will survive 'cause I'm not done with life
Oh, I'm not done with life
Journal 6.26
I had a couple horrible days but the last two I've been pulling out of it. Thanks again for being there for me, I feel all the warmth and even though I haven't been able to reply to everything, I'll never forget you and if you should ever find yourself in a situation like this, you can bet your ass I'll be there for you as well.
Aim for the stars
Our generation is often attacked for not having many lasting achievements. Compared to the generation before, we seem to have done little. Our parents brought us the cultural revolution of the 1960s, with all of its improvements in civil rights and equality. They ended the cold war. They eradicated small pox. They went to the goddamned moon. And we, well, not so much. Sure, we've done some things, but we don't look like we're on track to do anything as monumental as the generation before us, and certainly not the generation before them (Who are saddled with the title "Greatest generation" by the popular press).
But why do we seem to fall so short? Well, I can think of three main reasons:
1- We are young still. History is the sole way to see the real importance of things and no one is a prophet in their own time. And, also, we simply haven't had much time to do remarkable things. Our "generation" has many years still to make its mark on the world, and as I pointed out, the true significance of our actions will likely remain unknown for a decade or more.
2- We act in different ways. The internet is our world. We might as well admit to that. And it is a world hidden from outside eyes in many ways. So much of what we do seems so small, the actions of oddly scattered individuals, when in reality, we ARE organized, we ARE united, just not by geography, and not in "traditional" fashion. Our significance will likely not be visible to those who don't know our world. It will be more subtle than the actions of the past in other ways as well, I feel that we are less likely to fight for our political beliefs and more likely to act for them. We won't make alot of noise, but we will get the job done.
3 (I feel this is the big one)- We lack direction. I feel like our generation has yet to solidify on a major task yet. We feel, to me, scattered, schizophrenic, lacking a unifying force. Maybe we need a leader (Or group of leaders), maybe we await our FDR, our King, our Kennedy, our Wilson. Maybe a task, eliminating smallpox, ended the depression, fighting WWII, the race to the moon.
As I said, I think three is the most critical. We have so much passion and energy (Look at Darfur) we have so much power (Look at Obama) we have so much influence (Look at China) if only we could manifest it into a more focused form. I feel like this is a problem not only for our generation, but for our entire nation right now. We diffuse our energy over too many tasks, and therefore, we stagnate. We need a direction, and I don't know if that direction will stem from a task that will arise, or from a leader who shows us a way.
Paix et amour,
Joe!
McCain Embraces Bush on Civil Liberties
The Republicans haven't even held their convention, yet their presidential nominee has already announced his intention to commit impeachable offenses if elected.
WASHINGTON — A top adviser to Senator John McCain says Mr. McCain believes that President Bush’s program of wiretapping without warrants was lawful, a position that appears to bring him into closer alignment with the sweeping theories of executive authority pushed by the Bush administration legal team.
In a letter posted online by National Review this week, the adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, said Mr. McCain believed that the Constitution gave Mr. Bush the power to authorize the National Security Agency to monitor Americans’ international phone calls and e-mail without warrants, despite a 1978 federal statute that required court oversight of surveillance.
Would it be too much to ask that we have a president who doesn't think he’s above the law?