MY POINT EXACTLY. I think Fast Leon's making my case for me. Best as I can tell, genocide isn't the issue in Sudan at this point. Rather, the two sides are wrangling over the terms of a political resolution to the conflict. The United States has a point of view that's more favorable to the Darfur rebel groups than does the African Union, and the rebels are engaged in tactical gambits to try and win more concessions. Perhaps the American position on this is warranted, but either way it's just not the case that Khartoum is hell-bent on perpetuating the slaughter and only unilateral use of force -- or even increased pressure on the Sudanese government in any form -- can make it stop. The rallies and so forth seem to be coming too late and operating off outdated talking points, and an awful lot of folks (not the ralliers, though) are more interested in the issue's potential as a rhetorical bludgeon to be used against UNniks and Iraq War opponents than they are in anything relating to Darfur.
--Matthew Yglesias
