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As you read this, countless innocent civilians in the province of Darfur (in the African nation of Sudan) will be added to the already half-million who have been murdered, tortured or died of starvation. These are victims of attacks by Sudanese government-supported Janjaweed on homes and villages in retaliation against rebel groups such as the Justice and Equality and Sudanese Liberation Movements.

Though the fighting has been intense, and the casualty figures include thousands of little children, it seems as if there's no "truce" in sight.-

Now as if the fighting wasn't enough to burden the weary innocents - there's a famine looming, according to the European Parliament (whose members have returned from fact-finding tour of the area). The Parliament is recommending "diplomatic and economic sanctions" against all Sudanese figures implicated in the violence. The Parliament has found that "security issues" were hindering the distribution of needed food and supplies; even relief workers are afraid to enter the area and help.

Frithjof Schmidt, a German Green member of the EP, said, "If the security situation cannot be quickly stabilized, then the aid organizations will no longer be able to provide even basic food supplies. A famine of dramatic extent is looming."

Meanwhile, in America the richest, most abundant land in the world almost a half-trillion dollars have been spent on the war in Iraq. Though combat troops have been supplied with costly armament, and millions more have gone to Iraqi aid and reconstruction, we've yet to make a serious dent in the insurgency. As even many Republican Congressmen now agree, there's no substantive progress in the Administration's plan for "establishing a free Iraq." Plainly put, we're no closer to victory than we were a few years ago.

These two scenarios bring a serious question to the table: If our firepower (on the one hand) isn't stopping the Iraqi insurgency and our aid (on the other) isn't bringing the peace that the Administration hoped, why not change our course and use our resources to stop the fighting between the Janjaweed and rebel groups in Darfur?

As was said, the relief workers are afraid to come into the province due to the violence. If we can bring a measure of peace, at least the people can get the food supplies they need to survive. If we can work with these people as we've attempted to do in Iraq, who knows how many children could be saved from the specter of starvation?

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