Articles and Analysies
A Witness from among themselves by John Gordon
By [unknown placeholder $article.art_field1$]
Jun 22, 2008 - 10:28:47 AM

A Witness from among themselves

It is very ironic for Roger Winter, the former American  peace envoy to Sudan   to criticize the Bush Administration  as having failed in  its policy towards Sudan . If the failure Rogers has in mind is the American Administration  misjudgment of the right course the Sudan is taking in its dealing with international community,  then one can say he has scored a credit.

But if his criticism is based on the same line of the other US officials who recommended sanctions against the Sudan , then he is certainly wrong. Roger was a senior official of the US Administration who knows Sudan very well and is also aware that the country is made to suffer the effects of US imposed sanctions without any justification. He also knows that the Sudan government follows the policy of open diplomacy in its dealing not only with the US government but with members of international community. Therefore he is a witness among the American officials who had been exposed to Sudan and is expected to say nothing but the truth about the Sudan . In addition to that if Rogers did not tell the truth, then his aforementioned statement would be no more than intended for local consumption. Again Rogers could have gone public with that opinion at an earlier time also to clear his conscience. But failing to do that raises a big question mark about the credibility not only of Rogers himself but that of the other American policy makers. Call that double standard you may understand that double standard policy is really what characterizes American policy. Fortunately Rogers has proved a witness amongst themselves.