Generalissimo Mia Farrow wants to send in the mercenaries:
Activists turn to Blackwater over DarfurIt's a fascinating exercise in the sociology of military humanism to explore the tangled web of nested and interlocking committees, coalitions, front groups, and so on that branch out and return to this "Dream for Darfur" outfit. Ex-Clintonites and various tentacles of the Israel Lobby octopus(*) are conspicuous, but there are some wonderful free-lance eccentrics too; DfD itself lists at the head of its advisory board one "Bob Arnot," whose occupation is described as "Humanitarian". I think this must be the same Bob Arnot who used to be an NBC News correspondent, but was fired because his cheerleading for the Iraq war was too over-the-top even for NBC.Mia Farrow, the actress and activist, has asked Blackwater, the US private security company active in Iraq, for help in Darfur....
Ms Farrow said she had approached Erik Prince, founder and owner of Blackwater, to discuss whether a military role was either feasible or desirable.
She acknowledged that many people might have reservations about Blackwater being involved in Darfur – the company’s men were involved in the fatal shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians last September – but said the threat of violence to refugees meant all options had to be explored....
Mr Prince has raised the possibility of a role in Darfur for security companies.
Ms Farrow, who represents Dream for Darfur, a human rights group, and other lobbyists this week lambasted the UN Security Council for its “shameful” failure to halt killings in the Sudanese province....
“How long will you continue to allow the government of Sudan to manipulate this body?” Ms Farrow asked council members. “Did Adolf Hitler get to choose which troops should be deployed to end his genocide?”
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(*) Including that ubiquitous old stager Ruth Messinger, a short-period comet in my sky since I moved to the Upper West Side of Manhattan thirty years ago.
Comments (5)
Disgusting. Just goes to show how befuddled the "Left" is in this country. Let's "help" oppressed people by sending in our own heavily-armed oppressors!
As if Blackwater or the US military knows how to do anything besides kill and destroy. If the US (or its private sector surrogates) invade, it will only be to advance the US's own imperial agenda.
Posted by Nicholas Hart | June 19, 2008 7:55 PM
Posted on June 19, 2008 19:55
I seem to remember a Bob Arnot who was a medical correspondent for NBC -- or, that is, a guy who'd come onto "Today" occasionally to deliver puff pieces about expensive corporate pharmaceuticals, and who always came off more like a guy who NBC called in from Central Casting to play a doctor on TV, than an actual scientific/medical reporter.
But, man, oh, man...it looks like the Save Darfur movement has finally jumped the shark, huh? Mia Farrow beseeching Blackwater to help "save Darfur"?
Damn, man; you just busted my Fucked-Up-Ometer™.
Posted by Mike Flugennock | June 19, 2008 7:55 PM
Posted on June 19, 2008 19:55
MikeF -- I think all three Bobs are the same Bob.
Posted by MJS | June 20, 2008 11:21 AM
Posted on June 20, 2008 11:21
Keith Harmon Snow:
The US’s War In Darfur
The New Old "Humanitarian" Warfare in Africa
Posted by Arcturus | June 20, 2008 2:18 PM
Posted on June 20, 2008 14:18
Hey, Tim Russert had no problem with Dr. Bob, so what's the beef?
Meanwhile, maybe that Farrow fossil could just adopt all those refugees and whore them out to Woody.
Posted by Michael Dawson | June 20, 2008 5:10 PM
Posted on June 20, 2008 17:10