The Foreign Service Journal, September 2006

icle/2006/06/29/AR2006062902248 _pf.html ). Elsewhere in Europe, leaders are more skeptical of the ruling’s positive implications, however. Paisley Dodds of the Associated Press notes that the decision is seen as either a “vindication for Europeans who have condemned the U.S. prison camp” or a “toothless ruling that will ultimately make no dif- ference in a climate where they believe Washington is determined to have its way” ( http://www.thestate . com/mld/thestate/news/world/ 14936584.htm ). For more information on the deci- sion, see the Council on Foreign Relations backgrounder at http:// www.cfr.org/publication/11025/im pact_of_hamdan_v_rumsfeld.html . Wikipedia provides additional refer- ences, including links to official docu- ments relating to the case, at http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamdan_v. _Rumsfeld . — Eirene Busa, Editorial Intern Darfur: What Next? As the Sept. 30 end-date for the mandate of the African Union peace- keeping mission in Sudan draws near, attention is once again focusing on the crisis in Darfur. Continuing violence there has resulted in over 200,000 dead civilians and more than two mil- lion refugees since February 2003 — and, tragically, shows no signs of let- ting up. In brokering the Darfur Peace Agreement, signed May 5 between the Sudanese government and one faction of the largest rebel movement, the U.S. and African Union aimed at disarming the government-sponsored militias. But the agreement has been largely ignored by both the govern- ment and the rebels ( http://www. cbc.ca/cp/world/060523/w052378. html ). The A.U., the U.N. Security Council and the Arab League have all been pushing to deploy U.N. troops to help the A.U. peacekeeping mission and, in effect, take over from it. Sudanese President Omar Hassan al- Bashir, however, has rejected the pro- posal outright ( http://english.alja zeera.net/NR/exeres/FB917C3B- D9BF-4D96-B29B-DCE020F673 D0.htm ). But pressure for a U.N. peacekeep- ing deployment increases. At a donors conference in Brussels in mid-July, the U.S., European Union and others urged Khartoum to give its consent ( http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/0 7/14/darfur13743.htm ). Humani- tarian organizations such as UNICEF are pushing for the deployment of U.N. troops because the A.U. mission is underfunded and unable to protect civilians. In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on July 27, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton echoed this view ( http://usinfo.state.gov/ xarchives/display.html?p=washfile- english&y=2006&m=July&x= 20060727163315WCyeroC0.4781 763 ). Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer empha- 12 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 6 C Y B E R N O T E S L ook at where we are in the Middle East with no process. Crisis diplomacy is no substitute for sustained, day-to-day engagement. The pursuit of tactical military victories at the expense of the core strategic objective of Arab- Israeli peace is a hollow victory. — Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., in an address at the Brookings Institution, July 28, http://www.brookings.edu/ comm/events/20060728.pdf.