Former U.S. Marine seeks end to genocide in Darfur

Former Marine Brian Steidle spoke of an ongoing "systematic ethnic cleansing" he witnessed in Darfur, a region in Sudan, while touring Bloomington Thursday and Friday. The events were part of the "Million Voices for Darfur" campaign.\n"This is a government-sponsored military operation," Steidle said. "At its height, 9,000 to 10,000 people have died in a month and there are now nearly 2.5 to 3 million people in internally displaced persons camps. It's going on right now as we sit in this room. People are dying." \nThe first picture Steidle took in Darfur showed a 1-year-old girl who had been shot in the back. She had both an exit and entry wound and her aunt held her -- because her mother was dead, he said. She was gunned down in the back by Arab militia known as the "Janjaweed" -- which means "devil on a horseback" in Arabic, Steidle said. Her 3-year-old brother was whipped in the face, he said, which he displayed in a second picture. He also said the Janjaweed received all its equipment from the government and that he personally saw accounts of civilians with their ears cut off, their eyes plucked out, their genitalia and limbs removed, and some burned alive. Babies would get tossed onto bayonets, Steidle said. He said the Janjaweed would then conclude its torture by looting the villages.\n"They burn what they can't take," he said.\nAudience members reacted to the graphic accounts by gasping, sighing, covering their eyes -- some appearing horrified by the graphic footage and stories.\nSince fighting erupted in the region three years ago, the Janjaweed has killed 300,000 to 400,000 black, predominantly Muslim, Africans, Steidle said. He also said the Sudanese government sponsors this group. The Sudanese government has denied this claim, he said.\nTo a room filled with silence, Steidle said he wouldn't be doing what he was doing if he didn't think Americans could help. He said that he was not anti-government or anti-Bush, and he did not want to see U.S. ground troops in Sudan.\n"(Sudanese people) really don't like us," he said.\nHe said he commended the president for stating that he supported a multinational peacekeeping force in Darfur. Steidle said he'd like to see a NATO peacekeeping force enter first, followed by the United Nations. Steidle also said Americans need to force more action on the issue by contacting elected officials and media.\nA former infantry officer and now on an 11-state speaking tour, Steidle came to Bloomington as a result of a local activist group's awareness raising efforts and the help of various IU and community sponsors.\nFreshman Leah Cissell said she attended the speaking event Friday because she felt it was necessary. \n"It's your responsibility to make yourself aware of these kinds of things going on," she said.\nShe said that Steidle's speech was also impressive.\n"I think it's a great thing that this is what he's doing -- traveling around to make people more aware and to make the situation better," she said. "I learned a lot"