Cambodia, Rwanda, Sudan... 50 years after the world shouted "Never Again", that cry has become a whisper, as we again watch the violent targeting of a people in the Darfur region of Sudan. The U.S. congress has called the government sponsored cleansing "genocide", yet it continues. Over the past year and a half, Darfur has seen massive human rights violations as the Janjaweed- a Sudanese Arab milita- burn villages, and government planes bomb homes from the sky. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have flooded into neighboring countries and humanitarian relief is difficult to provide in this desolate region. Countries around the world have been quick to send relief, but not to provide troops for a peacekeeping mission.

The question of the Sudan is more than one of humanitarian logistics, stemming the flow of refugees or rebuilding villages once the violence passes. It is the question we must ask ourselves: is it our responsibility as a nation to try to prevent genocide and stop it when it happens? When does civil conflict become an international affair? Read the U.N. genocide convention here.