yes, you are trivializing the events of the last couple of weeks. the significance of the personal character of the Sudanese president, and the import of the statements of the world’s most prominent international prosecutor, whose choice of words is not to be taken lightly.

Alex

Alex (in blogging it is all first names, so i take the liberty…) wrote: “Nobody in Sudan, even the regime’s harshest critic, believes that Bashir was in total command of the organs of state, which bent to his every instruction. The Chief Prosecutor’s statement on Monday had the effect of making him [Chif Pros.] look like any other polemicist speaking about Sudan without understanding the nature of the Sudanese state and society.”

But this is polemics incarnate! I mean Alex’s misinterpretation- is it willful?- of what the idea of “total command” means, as if it were the idea that since Bashir was not personally giving orders to burn villages he was not therefore in “total command”, e.g. as if George Bush were not in “total command” of Guantanamo because he “didn’t see personally” what was happening there! Bashir was and is the President, and the organs of the state in Darfur were working to carry out an anti-civilian counter-insurgency campaign. If Bashir was working night and day, threatening and cajoling to resign, in order to reign in a counter-insurgency run by his underlings, then that will be his defense at the trial, and he’ll be acquitted. Does anyone really think that is the accurate historical record for Darfur? That Mr. Bashir and associates will be able to convince the judges that this was the case? If so, then people who have access to facts and interpretations like the following: “This included President Bashir himself, whose immediate personal response was anger. Had the Prosecutor’s statement come as a surprise, his fury might have been boundless.” will be giving testimony, and I will look forward to reading it!

May I imagine the testimony for a minute, recognizing that making light in the face of the plight of 2.5 million displaced persons is a luxury I am grateful for.

“Yes, Mr. Ocampo, I was in the room with Pres. Bashir when he heard the announcement, and he banged his fist on the table very angrily, so that is how I knew he was angry, and then his houseboy told me later that he forgot to take his shoes off when he came into the house, and he only does that when he is very, very angry.”
“And would you say that the mood of anger continued a long time?”
“Well, later that evening some of his close associates came by the house, and they were discussing things very loudly. But at one point they did all burst out laughing and the houseboy heard Mr. Bashir laugh too. But he may have been being polite. He often laughs around his friends even when he is angry.”