Arabs can be Douches, Chapter MXII: Red Carpet for Bloody Bashir

[Queequeg]

Often Split, Arab Leaders Unite for Sudan's Chief
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN and ROBERT F. WORTH

CAIRO — Arab leaders may be divided over which Palestinian faction to support and what to do about Iran's rising influence, but they have found one cause to rally around: Protecting the president of Sudan from charges he orchestrated the rape, killing and widespread pillaging in Darfur.

Arab leaders gathered for their annual summit meeting in Doha, the capital city of Qatar, on Monday, hoping to patch over their many differences. But they had little trouble agreeing to an effusive embrace of Omar Hassan al- Bashir, the president of Sudan, who was indicted by the International Criminal Court earlier this month for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad Bin Khalifa al-Thani, greeted President Bashir at the airport with a red carpet treatment, a warm embrace and a kiss on the cheek. Even before the meeting began, Amr Moussa, the General Secretary of the Arab League, said the member states would "continue our efforts to halt the implementation of the warrant."

Arab leaders have closed ranks around a fellow head of state in the face of pressure from the West and condemnation from human rights groups around the world. They have argued that the International Criminal Court compromises Sudan's sovereignty. Their supporters said the court's action revealed the west's double standard in dealing with Arabs by indicting Mr. Bashir while taking no action against what they see as war crimes committed by Israel during its offensive in the Gaza Strip. They added that the indictment undermines efforts at bringing about a negotiated settlement by inflaming the situation.

"The leaders reject attempts to politicize the principles of international justice and using them to undermine the sovereignty, unity and stability, of Sudan," read a resolution drafted by foreign ministers in advance of the meeting.

The Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, opened the conference with a speech calling for Arab leaders to reject the court's action.

"What is happening now with regards to Sudan is a new chapter in the chapters that consider the Arabs weak and disrespect the sovereignty of their countries," he said.

"As for their weak pretexts about fabricated crimes committed by Sudan, we can discuss it with them after they bring those who committed the atrocities and massacres in Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq to the court implicated for the same crimes, but ones that are not fabricated, but rather proven with documents and incidents," Mr. Assad concluded.

The United Nation's Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, who also attended the conference, sharply criticized Mr. Bashir for expelling aid agencies in response to the court's call for his arrest.

"Relief efforts should not become politicized," he said. "People in need must be helped irrespective of political differences."

There was also some criticism of the Arab league's decision to welcome Mr. Bashir. Some said their leaders had embarrassed the Arab world, and that they were supporting Mr. Bashir not on the strength of their convictions but from a sense of self-preservation.

"The leaders' position is their own self=defense because they don't want to open the door to an international tribunal of any kind that will open the file of any crimes they committed against humanity or against their own people," said Saad al-Ajmi, a former Kuwaiti minister of information. "Most of those regimes are actually dictatorships, and most of them have their hands smeared with the blood of their own people."

An independent group called the condemned Mr. Bashir's participation in the summit and said that it is was hypocritical for Arabs to want Israel to be investigated for Israel's actions in Gaza and then "complain about it if a friendly country is involved."

When it issued a warrant for Mr. Bashir's arrest, the International Criminal Court charged that he played an "essential role" in the murder, rape, torture, pillage and displacement of large numbers of civilians in Darfur. The only Arab states to ratify participation in the court were Jordan, Djibouti and the Comoros. The United States has also rejected participation in the court.

The court's action against Mr. Bashir came at a time of heightened tension between Arab states over how to respond to Israel's offensive in Gaza and relations with Iran. The defense of Mr. Bashir drew a rare consensus, even among those hostile to each other like Egypt's President, Hosni Mubarak, and Qatar's emir. Mr. Mubarak did not attend the meeting in Qatar, but instead invited Mr. Bashir to visit Cairo before the summit.

Egyptian officials argued that the indictment only made matters worse in Sudan and called for an international conference to try to resolve the conflict.

The Arab consensus on Mr. Bashir has partly been attributed to a feeling of resentment in a region that is still sensitive to what it views as Western colonial arrogance.

"It is as if the court and those who support it think they have the power to appoint and fire presidents," said Faisal Mekdad, the Syrian vice minister of foreign affairs during a conversation on the side of the summit meeting in Doha on Monday. "All Arabs feel nowadays they are targeted, and that imposing any more demands, or enforced silences, or even what is dubbed rationality and wisdom by outsiders, is not acceptable."

Syria may have an additional motive for denouncing the arrest warrant, because its leadership is said to be concerned that the international investigation into the killing of a former Lebanese prime minister, Rafiq Hariri, may implicate or even indict high-ranking Syrian figures.

Whatever their actual motives, the pro-Bashir stance is likely to play well with the Arab public, said Sarkis Naoum, a columnist for the Lebanese newspaper Al-Nahar.

"Arabs are happy to see their leaders facing up the Security Council or other international bodies," Mr. Naoum said. "And this has become a tool for regimes to try to gain more legitimacy."

That certainly appeared to be the case for Mr. Bashir, who sat at a vast table alongside other Arab leaders during the summit, and delivered a rambling diatribe against the International Criminal Court and the United Nations Security Council.

Charming!  They complain that they shouldn't have to stop a slaughter of Muslims because we are trying to stop the slaughter of Muslims!

Oh: right, the Darfuris aren't Arabs, and are therefore not worth lifting a finger over.

[Admiral Yi]

I'm more than happy for the supporters of the ICC to duke it out with the Arabs.

Didn't know Djibouti is an Arab country.

[garbon]

I like that Qadafi stormed out.

[jimmy olsen]

I like that Qadafi stormed out.

Where does it mention Qadafi?

[Valmy]

"The leaders' position is their own self=defense because they don't want to open the door to an international tribunal of any kind that will open the file of any crimes they committed against humanity or against their own people," said Saad al-Ajmi, a former Kuwaiti minister of information. "Most of those regimes are actually dictatorships, and most of them have their hands smeared with the blood of their own people."

That makes sense.  That is the same reason the Chinese were prepared to veto any UNSC action on Darfur as well.

[The Minsky Moment]

Charming!  They complain that they shouldn't have to stop a slaughter of Muslims because we are trying to stop the slaughter of Muslims!

Oh: right, the Darfuris aren't Arabs, and are therefore not worth lifting a finger over.

I think your missing the motivation here.

The leaders of the Arab states aren't rallying around Omar because he torments non-Arabs.  They are rallying around him on a matter of principle -- that the government of a country should have the right to murder, pillage and torment any of its subjects that it chooses however it wishes, free of any outside interference.

[Razgovory]

Charming!  They complain that they shouldn't have to stop a slaughter of Muslims because we are trying to stop the slaughter of Muslims!

Oh: right, the Darfuris aren't Arabs, and are therefore not worth lifting a finger over.

I think your missing the motivation here.

The leaders of the Arab states aren't rallying around Omar because he torments non-Arabs.  They are rallying around him on a matter of principle -- that the government of a country should have the right to murder, pillage and torment any of its subjects that it chooses however it wishes, free of any outside interference.

Lazzie Faire!

[KRonn]

Syria may have an additional motive for denouncing the arrest warrant, because its leadership is said to be concerned that the international investigation into the killing of a former Lebanese prime minister, Rafiq Hariri, may implicate or even indict high-ranking Syrian figures.
Interesting.... we'll see if that does happen.

[Eochaid]

Lazzie Faire!

That would be laissez faire

Kevin

[Valmy]

The leaders of the Arab states aren't rallying around Omar because he torments non-Arabs.  They are rallying around him on a matter of principle -- that the government of a country should have the right to murder, pillage and torment any of its subjects that it chooses however it wishes, free of any outside interference.

This is a principal that unites many nations around the world.

[garbon]

Where does it mention Qadafi?

Omg, I can read about events (the summit as a whole) in other articles and not post them!

[Richard Hakluyt]

The leaders of the Arab states aren't rallying around Omar because he torments non-Arabs.  They are rallying around him on a matter of principle -- that the government of a country should have the right to murder, pillage and torment any of its subjects that it chooses however it wishes, free of any outside interference.

This is a principal that unites many nations around the world.

I think it's a generally accepted principle, possibly universally accepted. Of course the levels of state power and oppression vary, the western democracies are at one extreme with only occasional brutality, whilst with some other states it is routine.

[Valmy]

I think it's a generally accepted principle, possibly universally accepted. Of course the levels of state power and oppression vary, the western democracies are at one extreme with only occasional brutality, whilst with some other states it is routine.

Then that calls into question why we intervened in the Balkans or why there exists such a thing as the ICC.

[Richard Hakluyt]

I think it's a generally accepted principle, possibly universally accepted. Of course the levels of state power and oppression vary, the western democracies are at one extreme with only occasional brutality, whilst with some other states it is routine.

Then that calls into question why we intervened in the Balkans or why there exists such a thing as the ICC.

Well the other states embrace that principle, just like we do, but the British in former times and modern Americans won't always let them get away with it because we are interfering bigheads 

[Valmy]

Well the other states embrace that principle, just like we do, but the British in former times and modern Americans won't always let them get away with it because we are interfering bigheads 

Well we have always and continue to oppose the concept and existance of the ICC.

But beyond that, yes.