"'We will not repeat the mistakes of other generations, appeasing or excusing tyranny, and sacrificing freedom in the vain pursuit of stability,' the president said. 'We have learned our lesson; no one's liberty is expendable. In the long run, our security and true stability depend on the freedom of others.'"

During a recent trip to Khartoum and a brief excursion into Darfur, US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick pointedly refused to confirm the Bush administration’s previous genocide determination. This determination was made unequivocally in Senate testimony by former Bush administration Secretary of State Colin Powell: “genocide has been committed in Darfur, and that the government of Sudan and the Janjaweed bear responsibility” (testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, September 9, 2004).

This decisive conclusion has degenerated into politically guarded word-mincing: Zoellick, when specifically asked about Powell’s determination, declared it a “former Secretary of State” simply “making a point” to Congress (Financial Times, April 15, 2005). “‘I don’t want to get into a debate over terminology,’ [Zoellick] said, when asked if the US believed that genocide was still being committed in Darfur against the mostly African villagers by Arab militias and their government backers” (Financial Times, April 15, 2005). This is part of a larger effort by the Bush administration to re-define the Darfur catastrophe in ways that make it less urgent, and thus less compelling of an appropriate US response.