NBC News, Darfur, and the Dog That Didn't Bark

Tonight on the NBC Evening News, Ann Curry reported on the ongoing genocide in Darfur. Brian Williams introduced the segment noting that the media has been criticized for ignoring the story. It was a moving first-hand look at a human tragedy of immense proportions. But I couldn't help noticing what was left out of the report.

At one point in the story, Curry identified the killers as "Arab militias" but she ignored completely the religious component of the massacre. The truth is that almost all of the violence is a very one-sided battle. With the implicit, and sometimes open, support of the Sudanese government, Christians are being butchered by Muslims.

Hundreds of thousands have already been killed, and more than a million people have been displaced by the violence. This has been going on for years. No one who cares about the details is in the dark as to the source of the bloodshed. Yet in the name of political correctness, another glaring example of Islamic terrorism is being downplayed by the media. In fact, Williams concluded the segment by mentioning that on the Today Show tomorrow, Ann Curry would be looking at the impact of the violence on the women of Darfur. While it's true that the impact on women has been grave, it is not women who are primarily the targets, but Christians.

Sherlock Holmes solved a case (in Doyle's short story The Silver Blaze) by noting that a dog failed to bark because it knew the culprit. The American media has been almost uniformly silent on the Darfur tragedy. And now that they are beginning to notice, the media still refuses to identify the source of the problem. The same war being waged against America by terrorists is being carried on against believers in central Africa. There is a war going on--a war in which Islamic extremists will kill, maim, rape, torture and destroy those who do not share their "faith." We ignore this grim reality at our peril. If 9/11 taught us anything, it should be that ignoring our enemies will not make them go away. If we stand by in silence while terrorists hone their killing skills on others, we should not be surprised to find them putting those skills to use against us. Enough is enough. It's time to take clear and decisive action to end the Islamic jihad against Christians in Darfur. The lives we save may be our own.