ER Tackles Darfur

Chalk one up for this aging and over the hill show. Last night's episode provided the audience with a somewhat fictionalized assessment of what is going on in Darfur as seen through Carter's eyes. Carter is working in one of the refugee camps set up to handle the people trying to escape the janjaweed who have slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Darfur residents.

And survival in the refugee camps are by no means assured. The simple task of going out to get firewood may mean rape or death.

That this particular show mentioned Darfur is interesting. That's far more than can be said of many of the television networks and many of the big media outlets.

I want to commend ER for showing the situation in Darfur, even if they had to fictionalize how and what Carter would have done in the situation he faced. Even though the show falls flat on its pacing, this is one of the better episodes in recent years if only for the subject matter that it attempted to tackle.

UPDATE:
Back in the real world, Kofi Annan wants the big powers to provide air cover for peacekeepers. Who would those powers be? The US of course. Who else is there? And don't doubt for one moment that Sudan will oppose any such overflights, and that they'll get China to back their position since Sudan has China over a barrel - literally.

Secretary General Kofi Annan told the United States that U.N. members should consider providing close air support in possible combat situations for several thousand African Union peacekeeping troops in the Darfur region of Sudan.

The request, in a confidential letter to John R. Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, shows that the world body is pressing for a more aggressive military approach in dealing with armed groups in Darfur, and that it wants the United States and other Western powers to participate in that effort.

A day late and a dollar short. The aggressive action was required and demanded by the situation months ago. We're now seeing the ongoing failure to confront genocide by a half assed attempt to deal with the remnants months later.

Technorati: dafur, darfur, genocide, african union, annan, janjaweed.