UNITED NATIONS (AP) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Thursday he will ask President Bush for the United States to play a major role in a peacekeeping force in Sudan's Darfur region. | No, but thank's for asking |
| "We'll be washing our hair - for the next few years" |
| "Sure Kofi, we have a couple companies of Green Berets, they'll be helping the people of Darfur. Oh. That's not what you had in mind ..." |
Annan said Darfur's plight is too severe for rich nations, including the United States, to simply fund the mission while third world nations contribute troops - a practice that is largely the norm for U.N. peacekeeping missions around the world. "It is not going to be easy for the big and powerful countries with armies to delegate it to third world countries," Annan told reporters. "They will have to play a part if we are going to stop the carnage that we see in Darfur." Annan said he planned to raise the issue with Bush during a White House meeting Monday. The United States currently pays about a quarter of the U.N. peacekeeping budget, which topped $5 billion in 2005, but provides a very small percentage of troops or police.
Annan said the Darfur mission will need a "completely different force." That means highly trained troops with solid logistical support, backed by air power, with the ability to move quickly. | He forgot to add the most important part, willingness to pull the trigger |
| My plan for the Green Berets advances ... |
On Thursday, the U.N. Security Council authorized planning for the United Nations to take over peacekeeping duties in Darfur from the African Union, whose 7,000 troops have been hampered by all the usual complaints we've seen over the past fifty years shoddy equipment, poor training and lack of funds. The African Union troops have made a difference where they are stationed, but have been unable to bring lasting peace to Darfur, where an estimated 180,000 people have died in violence since 2003. The United States and several other nations have said genocide occurred in Sudan.
The U.N. mission must send a message to those responsible for the violence "that we have a force that is capable to respond, a force that is everywhere and a force that will be there on time to prevent them from intimidating and killing the innocent civilians," Annan said. | Killing them first would do the trick, but Kofi won't go there. |
The United States has been reluctant to contribute troops since 18 U.S. soldiers were killed in clashes with gunmen in 1993 during the peacekeeping mission in Somalia. U.S. Mission spokesman Richard Grenell would not comment on whether the United States planned to contribute troops.
| Considering how well UN C4 worked last time, I wouldn't be rushing to say yes. |
| We can do it, sure, but we have to be in charge. No blue berets, only green ones. |
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