Our Letter to President Bush

On April 26, 2006, an ideologically diverse group of eighteen foreign policy experts delivered a letter to President Bush, urging him to employ all political and diplomatic means necessary to secure deployment of a NATO-led or NATO-supported bridging element to stop Darfur’s genocidal violence. The letter was delivered personally to the executive administration during a meeting between the President and Darfur activists, and was organized by members of Americans Against the Darfur Genocide.

This letter was a high-profile attempt to infuence the White House’s position on international intervention in Darfur. It came after President Bush made public remarks supporting “NATO stewardship” of multinational peacekeepers in Western Sudan.

Unfortunately, last year’s promises of peacekeepers amounted to nothing. Last year’s talk about a no-fly zone, a NATO bridging force to Darfur, etc. has not led the Bush administration to seriously implement any of these measures.

At a time when advocates are again seriously supporting the use of force in Darfur, and in particular a non-consensual multinational protection force to stop genocide, it’s absolutely important that we hold our public officials to account.

What’s stopping the international community or our country from striking Sudan’s airfields, which allow Sudan’s air force to continue its bombing campaign against innocent civilians? If the U.S. really recognizes that any UN force will take a long to deploy to Darfur, what’s stopping our country from loudly supporting peacekeepers for Eastern Chad, given that Darfur’s violence is spreading into Chad (as well as the Central African Republic)? Just some of the pointed questions that we need to constantly ask our public leaders.

Text of the Letter (with Signatories Mentioned)

Dear President Bush and Secretary Rice:

We write to you as a community of experts in our fields to express our deep concern over
the worsening crisis in Darfur, Sudan. Since 2003, hundreds of thousands of Darfuris
have died, and more than 2.5 million remain internally displaced or in refugee camps. In
the midst of international complacency and waning peace talks, the government of Sudan
and its Janjaweed proxy militias continue to pursue a genocidal campaign against the
largely black African tribes of Darfur.

Over the past few months, violence against civilians has surged. According to the United
Nations, more than 60,000 Darfuris have been displaced in the past month alone,
marauding militia continue to rape and assault women and children, humanitarian aid
workers face increasing attacks and the conflict has now spilled across international
borders into neighboring Chad. In this war-wracked region of the world, innocent
civilians are paying the price for international inaction.

The world has finally acknowledged that the African Union mission (AMIS) in Darfur,
which has been charged to patrol a region the size of Texas, lacks the manpower,
funding, and mandate to provide civilian protection. We welcome the AU Peace and
Security Council’s March 10 decision to support the “transition from AMIS to a UN
Operation” in partnership with the AU. Such a transition must include immediate UN
authorization of a sufficient interim force to provide crucial stability and civilian
protection in the region.

As the crisis rages on, we call on the United States to use all political and diplomatic
means to secure deployment of a NATO-led or NATO-supported bridging element to
Darfur. NATO troops, such as the NATO Response Force, can bolster the AU’s
operations and provide much needed civilian protection until a UN force can be raised
and deployed. In addition, NATO can immediately provide necessary headquarters
capacity, communications/ command/ control/ intelligence (C3I) assets, logistics and
training support, and lift capacity. A NATO commitment to provide ongoing
headquarters and assistance capability to the UN mission will be invaluable for raising
and supporting the UN force. This will also require a reinvigorated U.S. diplomatic
effort to pressure Khartoum, and if need be, its allies, to accept this multinational troop
support.

Secondly, we call on the United States to press the Security Council to implement
meaningful sanctions, such as travel bans and asset freezes, on individuals who have
impeded peace efforts and violated human rights in Darfur. This includes pressuring
China and Russia at the highest levels to agree to the sanctions. If, however, that fails, the
U.S. should work with individual countries where Sudanese officials have asset holdings
or travel aspirations to impose bilateral sanctions.

At the World Summit in September of last year, the United States and other participating
governments agreed that the international community has a responsibility to protect
innocent civilians when a government is unwilling or unable to do so. Inadequate
international action has allowed Darfur to bleed into its third devastating year of rape,
slaughter and starvation. Only resolute action now can save lives. We call on you to lead
the international community in honoring this pledge. The people of Darfur, and
concerned citizens around the world, are depending on it.

Sincerely,

[Foreign Policy Experts]

Gary Bass
Associate Professor of Politics and International Affairs
Woodrow Wilson School and Politics Department
Princeton University

Ivo Daalder
Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies
The Brookings Institution

Larry Diamond
Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution
Professor by Courtesy of
Political Science and Sociology
Stanford University

Nicholas N. Eberstadt

Henry Wendt Chair, Political Economy
American Enterprise Institute

Lee Feinstein
Senior Fellow, U.S. Foreign Policy and International Law
Council on Foreign Relations

Francis Fukuyama
Bernard Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy

The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies,
Johns Hopkins University

Bruce Pitcairn Jackson
President,
Project on Transitional Democracies

Richard Joseph

John Evans Professor of Political Science and
African Studies Program Director,
Northwestern University

Anthony Lake
Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy
Diplomacy Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service,
Georgetown University

Tod Lindberg
Research Fellow, Hoover Institution
Editor of Policy Review

Princeton Lyman
Ralph Bunche Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Studies
Council on Foreign Relations

Michael McFaul
Associate Professor of Political Science,
Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution
Stanford University

Joshua Muravchik
Resident Scholar,
American Enterprise Institute

Samantha Power
Carr Center for Human Rights Policy
Kennedy School of Government

John Prendergast
Senior Advisor,
International Crisis Group

Gary Schmitt
Resident Scholar, Director of Program on Advanced Strategic Studies
American Enterprise Institute

Anne-Marie Slaughter
Dean, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
Princeton University

Stephen Stedman
Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute
Stanford University

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[Advocates]

Stanley Bergman

Chair, AJC Africa Institute

Peter Edelman
Professor of Law,
Georgetown University Law Center

Darchelle M. Garner
Chair of the Board of Directors,

Shared Interest

Michele Griffiths
Member, Board of Directors
Shared Interest

Nadine Hack
Chair, Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation

Donna Katzin
Executive Director, Shared Interest

Ruth Messinger
President
American Jewish World Service

Jeannine B. Scott
Senior Vice President, Africare