Thank You, General

US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday classified the atrocities in Sudan's troubled Darfur region as genocide and called on the United Nations to launch a thorough probe into one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Powell told a Senate hearing that evidence compiled by the United States" concluded that genocide has been committed in Darfur and the government of Sudan and the Janjaweed bear responsibility, and that genocide may still be occurring." ...

Powell said the United States"will propose that the next UN Security Council Resolution on Sudan request a UN investigation into all violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law that have occurred in Darfur, with a view to ensuring accountability."

Darfur will have a better end than Rwanda ten years ago. In Rwanda, the nations of the world balked at calling the killings a"genocide" because it would compel them to stop it. Now that the most powerful nation in the UN has recognized the genocide in Darfur, other nations and international organizations will be forced to do the same. Considering the current political weakness of the US State Department in US politics and international affairs, this is a personal triumph for Colin Powell. Thank you ... you have done a tremendous service for humanity.