Now we must do our part to ensure that the United States and the UN take advantage of what little time Darfur has left.

In his 2006 State of the Union address, President George W. Bush pledged that America “will not let radical Islam work its will,” that we won't surrender to evil, that our nation won’t turn its back on a suffering people.

But such assurances don’t mean much in Darfur, Sudan. People there have spent the last few years being raped, tortured, starved and slaughtered by their Islamic government. They’ll tell you that the rhetoric of Western politicians is a poor defense against genocide.

February 2006 marks three years of violence in this remote corner of Africa, where some 300,000 have died. Two million more live and die in shantytowns and poorly equipped refugee camps, and in the hostile borderlands of neighboring Chad.

It seems the Bush administration understands the crisis — sort of. Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick went to Darfur four times in 2005. After his 2004 visit there, former Secretary of State Colin Powell declared the carnage in Darfur genocide.

So why do 5,000 to 10,000 die there each month? Why must international relief groups cram survivors into refugee camps where daily life remains a struggle for food, water and security?

The journalists who make it into Darfur tell stories of men burned alive in their homes by the government’s hired paramilitary force, the Janjaweed. Victims and aid workers recount stories of brutal gang rapes against women. United States Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) met a 4-year-old rape victim during his fall 2005 trip to Darfur.

And as the mother of two small sons, I can’t forget an American journalist’s account of the Sudanese woman who watched as soldiers castrated her 3-week-old son; he died in her arms.

But the attention of the Bush Administration is not enough. If the world can take action against radical Islam in Iraq and Afghanistan, why not in Sudan? Both sides of this conflict are Muslim, similar to the situation in Iraq. All the players — the Janjaweed, Sudanese politicians, the rebels, even some Darfuri people — speak Arabic.

The answer is familiar to those who follow American history. Both the Janjaweed and Sudanese government claim an “Arab” identity. But the Muslim people of Darfur are considered “black” Africans. Who knew that in post-apartheid Africa, being black would still be such a barrier?

And now that we do know the people of Darfur die by the tens of thousands, how can we let them keep dying? The United Nations says the monthly death toll will approach 100,000 if UN or NATO forces don’t join the African Union’s fragile peace-keeping mission there in the coming weeks.

Indeed, the world has had three years to end this genocide. Now we must do our part to ensure that the United States and the UN take advantage of what little time Darfur has left.

Feb. 1 marked the beginning of the United States' month-long presidency of the UN Security Council. UN Ambassador John Bolton has the floor to introduce a strong resolution calling for international intervention in Darfur.

We should e-mail our senators and representatives, and take 30 seconds to call the White House and UN to demand international intervention. If one million American voters called tomorrow and asked their elected officials to save Darfur, it truly would make a difference.

After the 1995 Rwandan genocide, the now-late Sen. Paul Simon said that if every congressman had received 100 letters from constituents asking that America intervene in Rwanda, we could have — would have — done more. Instead, we watched 800,000 Rwandans perish in just three months.

Don’t let "woulda/shoulda/coulda" be our legacy in this century. Instead, let’s all take a few moments to remind our government that the American people don’t surrender to evil, and that we won’t turn our backs on a suffering people — whether they live in Iraq or in Darfur.

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