Comments on: Sudan’s Shell Game – by Faith J. H. McDonnell

By: therealend

therealend — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:27:18 +0000

This was something I heard about on the news back then. The issue then was the Southerners were driven off their land because Chinese and Canadian companies wanted to explore for oil. It may not have been a bill but a resolution I was refering to that one of my Senators ignored completely and Sen Daschle didn't think enough of to bring to a vote in 2001. I think I tuned out everything after that because I was so mad at Congress. Anyway, thank you for clarifying the issue.

By: Faith McDonnell

Faith McDonnell — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:47:50 +0000

I'm not sure which bill you mean. The Sudan Peace Act became law in 2002. It was quite a good piece of legislation and, along with President Bush's Executive Order, did enact some pretty stiff sanctions against Sudan and against any U.S. businesses engaging with Sudan. U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus did try to get capital market sanctions into the bill, and we were having a press conference regarding the need for those, because of Sudan's participation in jihadi terrorism on the morning of September 11, 2001. But he withdrew his amendment because it was realized that the bill would never pass with those.
The real problem has not been not having sanctions, it has been having sanctions that are too broad — that punish the South, our allies in democracy, as much as the Islamist regime in the North. And even when some of that was amended, to “carve out” the area under SPLM control — people, businesses, etc. don't pay enough attention to understand that sanctions DO NOT apply to the South — an area rich with agricultural, mineral, and all kinds of opportunities for which they wish Americans would be their partners. Someone could do a good thing and make a bunch of money investing in South Sudan's shea butter opportunity, for example!

By: USMCSniper

USMCSniper — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:01:42 +0000

President Obama has no foreign policy other than appeasement and bad mouthing his own country while on foreign soil. The man is an empty suit who will never serve two terms.

By: therealend

therealend — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:49:30 +0000

Back in 2001, there was a bill in the Senate to restrict trading on US exchanges of companies doing business in Sudan. I wrote both my Senators. Sen Graham's (D)reply must have been automatically generated as it had nothing to do with what was happening in southern Sudan. Sen Nelson (D) did respond to the issue and he sounded pretty encouraging. Not long after that, Senate Majority Leader Daschle (D)stated that he didn't think the issue would be dealt with that year. He was right, it wasn't dealt with that year, or the next. I would have thought the Democrats would have been in front of this all the way, and even willing to do more than this, but that was not the case. It is true that such a bill would not have done much to counter Sudan's treatment of its southeners, but at least it would have been doing something, even if that was the legislative equivalent of lifting one's little finger.