Bush escalates economic warfare with Sudan

Washington Post:

President Bush today announced new efforts to pressure Sudan's government into cooperating with international efforts to halt the violence in its troubled Darfur region, where his administration said almost three years ago that genocide was taking place.

In a brief White House address that included sharp criticism of Sudanese president Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan al-Bashir, Bush said the Treasury Department will step up efforts to squeeze the Sudanese economy by targeting government-run ventures involved with its booming oil business, which does many of its transactions in U.S. dollars. Bush also announced sanctions against two senior Sudanese officials and a rebel leader, who are suspected of being involved in the violence in Darfur.

The United States will also seek new U.N. Security Council sanctions against Khartoum, as well as a provision preventing the Sudanese government from conducting military flights in Darfur, Bush said. The United Nations has accused Sudan's government of bombing Darfur villages.

...
One of the things that has happened on the Bush watch is the better use of economic and specifically bank regulations to starve our enemies of the free flow of funds. The first MBA President apparently was quick to grasp the significance of this weapon in dealing with rogue regimes. It has a way of insuring actions that mere sanctions does not have. It would have been implemented earlier, but the UN asked for more time for their failed diplomatic efforts.

It should be recognized that the famine in Darfur is a man made one caused by the governments logistic strategy, i.e. denial of logistics to its enemies. It is very similar to the logistics strategy used by the war lords of Somalia that created the "CNN event" which led to the mission to Somalia in the early 90's. One of the reasons that mission was undertaken was the false perception that the famine was a by product of the war an not a deliberate strategy of the war. By interfering with the war lords strategy we were undertaking an act of war by providing humanitarian assistance.

Gateway Pundit has a big roundup of news on the new policy with Sudan.

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