Where is the humanity?

Re “The Darfur deception,” Opinion, Oct. 7

David Rieff seems primarily to explain how he disagrees with the names of such humanitarian groups as Save Darfur and the U.S. Holocaust Museum. Yes, these titles evoke emotional responses. Regardless of how he feels about these names, the situation in Darfur is unacceptable, and the international community needs to put pressure on the Sudanese government to do something about it. I don’t see any problem in the organizations’ names if the overall objectives are to make Darfurians and people of other parts of the world free to live with reasonable assurance that they won’t be annihilated.

Howard Lubin

Granada Hills

As a member of a Darfur advocacy organization, I find Rieff’s essay sorely lacking. He charges advocacy groups with deliberate deception, yet offers no example or evidence of chicanery. The “heated debate” about the number of victims of murder, rape and ethnic cleansing does not exist. All parties agree that the numbers are huge and continue to grow. Rieff does not cite any compelling evidence that conflicts with the broadly accepted consensus regarding the ongoing horrors facing the victims of Darfur. He could easily have made the same case during the U.S. Civil War about slavery and World War II regarding the Jewish Holocaust. He appears to have lost his own humanity by dismissing the suffering and cruelty inflicted upon a targeted, defenseless population.

Jeffrey Ellis

Los Angeles

While Rieff derides advocacy organizations for oversimplifying the situation in Darfur, he commits a heinous injustice by failing to make the connection between the current chaos and the original acts of genocide committed by the Sudanese government and the janjaweed militia. The inevitable consequence of the original campaign of violence orchestrated by the Sudanese government against Darfur in 2003 is the chaos found there today. Holding that government accountable for those acts and inevitable consequences can hardly be oversimplification.

Rieff chastises the organizations that are bringing life-sustaining support to the 2.5 million Darfurians now wholly dependent on foreign aid for their survival.

Janice Kamenir-Reznik

President

Jewish World Watch

Encino