US Vice Presidential Candidates agree on intervention in Darfur
“I don’t have a stomach for genocide” said US vice Presidential candidate Senator Joseph R Biden during the one only live televised debate for the Vice Presidential candidates aired on Thursday Oct 3.
Senator Biden advocated a no-fly zone over Darfur, a major push to get peace-keeper helicopters into Darfur, and a U.S.-led NATO action of some kind. Senator Biden added: “When a country engages in genocide…that country forfeits the right to say, ‘you have no right to intervene.’”
[Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, debated Gov. Sarah Palin, his Republican counterpart, on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis on Oct 2nd.-NY Times.com Photo]
Governor Sarah Palin, Republican Party’s vice presidential candidate nodded and declared, “We can agree on that.” Gov. Palin was less specific but she did clearly say that she favored a no-fly zone in Darfur as well.
A New York Times columnist commenting on the debate said “Senator Biden broke the tradition of American leaders waffling on genocide over generations in a splendid way when he very forthrightly said during the debate “I don’t have a stomach for genocide.””
The New York Times added that this is a “historical milestone”, for candidates of both parties saying forthrightly that they would intervene to stop genocide, “not because of our national interests but because of our national values”.
