News Release from
The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies March 3, 2010 U.S. Envoy Criticized for Waffling on Darfur Genocide Prosecution
WASHINGTON - Fifty-seven leading Holocaust scholars have criticized the U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan for "waffling" on the issue of prosecuting Sudan's president for the Darfur genocide. Last year, the International Criminal Court indicted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for sponsoring the Arab militias that have carried out genocide in Darfur. Until now, U.S. officials have indicated that the administration supports prosecuting Bashir. But when U.S. envoy Scott Gration was asked at a March 4 State Department briefing to explain the U.S. position on prosecuting Bashir, Gration replied: "[W]e support efforts to ensure that President Bashir answers the questions that the ICC has posed, and we support the process continuing as it's outlined in the international system. And that's--we'll have to see where that one goes." (A full transcript of the reporter's exchange with Amb. Gration can be found at: In response, 57 Holocaust scholars issued a statement saying they were "deeply disappointed that Ambassador Scott Gration waffled when reporters asked him about the U.S. position on prosecuting Bashir." The scholars said that Gration's statement that Bashir had to "answer questions" rather than face prosecution, "could be understood to mean that the U.S. is backing away from its previous support for prosecuting Bashir." They urged the U.S. government to "reaffirm its support for the ICC's effort to prosecute Bashir." The Holocaust scholars emphasized that bringing Bashir to justice "is crucially important to deterring future would-be perpetrators of genocide. " The scholars' statement was organized by the Washington, D.C.-based David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, which has led many public protests regarding Darfur. Wyman Institute director Dr. Rafael Medoff said: "One hopes Ambassador Gration's statement does not represent the beginning of a repeat of the period in the 1940s when the State Department, for political reasons, opposed prosecuting most Nazi war criminals." It was only when U.S. envoy Herbert Pell, in 1945, publicly exposed the State Department's position that the Roosevelt administration reversed itself and agreed that all Nazi war criminals should be prosecuted. The Wyman Institute sponsors the "Bashir Watch" project, which tracks Bashir's travels and encourages international action to arrest him. Other recent Wyman Institute efforts include a July 2009 letter by 100 Holocaust and genocide scholars to the government of Uganda, praising it for discouraging Bashir from attending a summit in Uganda; an August 2009 petition by 100 Jewish leaders to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, when he visited the U.S., criticizing him for welcoming Bashir to Egypt; an October 2009 letter to President Obama by 119 rabbis, urging active U.S. intervention in Darfur; and a November 2009 letter by 220 prominent Christian and Jewish clergy, on the anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials, urging U.S. action to bring Bashir to justice. The full text of the 57 scholars' statement, and the list of signatories, follows: As Holocaust and genocide scholars, we believe the United States has a moral obligation to bring perpetrators of genocide to justice. The U.S. should help implement the International Criminal Court's warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Bashir for his role in the Darfur genocide. We are deeply disappointed that Ambassador Scott Gration waffled when reporters asked him on March 4 about the U.S. position on prosecuting Bashir. His remark supporting "efforts to ensure that President Bashir answers the questions that the ICC has posed" --while pointedly failing to endorse prosecution-- could be understood to mean that the U.S. is backing away from its previous support for prosecuting Bashir. We urge the U.S. government to reaffirm its support for the ICC's effort to prosecute Bashir. Bringing war criminals to justice is crucially important to deterring future would-be perpetrators of genocide. Prof. Mark J. Allman Dr. Yehuda Bauer Dr. Michael Berenbaum Prof. Thomas Bluger Dr. Ron Bombardi Prof. Daniel Burston Prof. Rebecca I. Denova Dr. Gemma Del Duca, S.C. Prof. Liba H. Engel Stuart Erdheim Dr. Helen Fein Prof. Saul Friedman Prof. Allon Gal Prof. Zev Garber Prof. Jay Geller Dr. Myrna Goldenberg Rabbi Prof. David Golinkin Prof. Henry Gonshak Rabbi Dr. Irving (Yitz) Greenberg Dr. Alex Grobman Dr. Elvira U. Grozinger Prof. Susannah Heschel Prof. Ron Hollander Dr. Steven Leonard Jacobs Prof. Katharina von Kellenbach Dr. Neil J. Kressel Prof. Michael Kuelker Vincent A. Lapomarda, S.J., Ph.D. Prof. Fred Lazin Prof. Laurel Leff Prof. Marcia Sachs Littell Dr. Erich Loewy Prof. Ze'ev Mankowitz Dr. Rafael Medoff Prof. Robert Melson Prof. Rochelle L. Millen Prof. Stephen H. Norwood Prof. John T. Pawlikowski, OSM, Ph.D Dr. Susan Pentlin Prof. Allen Podet Prof. Eunice G. Pollack Prof. Peter I. Rose Prof. Thane Rosenbaum Prof. Robert M. Shapiro Prof. Gerald Sorin Dr. Gregory H. Stanton Prof. Leon Stein (emer.) Dr. Samuel Totten Dr. James Waller Dr. Kenneth Waltzer Prof. Chaim I. Waxman Dr. Racelle Weiman Prof. Linda M. Woolf Prof. David S. Wyman Prof. John C. Zimmerman Dr. Bat-Ami Zucker * * * ABOUT THE WYMAN INSTITUTE: The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, located in Washington, D.C., is a research and education institute focusing on America’s response to the Holocaust. It is named in honor of the eminent historian and author of the 1984 best-seller The Abandonment of the Jews, the most important and influential book concerning the U.S. response to the Nazi genocide. The Institute’s Advisory Committee includes Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel, Members of Congress, and other luminaries. (A complete list is available upon request.)
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