What's the matter with Darfur?

As Bush tries pitifully to drum up support for the Iraq debacle, the genocide continues in the Sudan. The right is sticking to the official story, that Iraq is all about freedom and always was. This is the same right that claimed Clinton's intervention in Kosovo was "wagging the dog." You remember the Serbo-Croatian conflict, right? No American war casualties (that's zero, folks) and genocide ringleader Slobodan Milosevich currently on trial for his crimes.

Well, some 180,000 people have been killed in Darfur, which is many times over the body count that tyrants Milosevich and Hussein racked up. Somalia is frequently cited as the biggest foreign policy failure of the Clinton administration, and I'm inclined to agree. But Europe also hit the panic button and refused to intervene in a genocide that claimed more than 800,000 lives.

Some horrifying numbers from the latest genocide: NBC spent 5 minutes on Darfur coverage last year; CBS devoted 3 minutes. This June, the major network and 24/7 cable news stations aired 126 segments on Sudan, compared to 8,303 segments on the runaway bride, Michael Jackson and Tom Cruise.

But that's life under "Commander Cuckoo Bananas."

UPDATE: Check out this ad on Darfur by beawitness.org. Three networks have refused to run the ad, which is compelling stuff. And heaps well-deserved scorn on mainstream news.