Last week, Max Boot ranted in the Los Angeles Times about the lack of concern antiwar activists supposedly are giving to Darfur:

Remember how exercised everyone around the world was about the crimes committed at Abu Ghraib? Infinitely worse deeds are being done in Darfur every day. Where’s the outrage? Where are the street rallies that might spur Western governments into action? Aside from a handful of journalists and human rights activists, the only Westerners who have shown any sustained interest in the Sudan are evangelical Christians, who’ve been exercised primarily about the fate of their coreligionists in the south. The silence of the “antiwar” masses speaks volumes about their priorities: They don’t object to war crimes as long as they’re not committed by Americans.

Note to Senor Boot — the Sudanese government does not withhold taxes from my paycheck. I have never applied for a visa to visit Sudan and never done business with a Sudanese corporation or the Sudanese government, and so I have, in no way, paid for the wars in either southern Sudan or Darfur.

It matters to me what I am forced to pay for. And that’s why I care more about what American troops do than anyone else’s.

The Best of Charles H. Featherstone