Rep. Hunter: A Brigade for Darfur? Absolutely!
Representative Duncan Hunter, Chair of the House Armed Services Committee, appeared on C-Span’s morning talk show, Washington Journal last week. Elisabeth Kidder, Director of Survivors United to Save the Women of Darfur (survivorsunited.com), as a call-in guest, was able to ask Rep. Hunter a question.
Since late 2003, Survivors United has called on the President and Congress to work with the UN, NATO, the EU or act unilaterally if necessary, to ensure that an effective, capable and credible peace enforcement force is deployed to Darfur to protect civilians.
The first line of argument for those who oppose US involvement to stop the genocide usually involves the war in Iraq and its effect on the nation’s military. With this in mind, Kidder asked Rep. Hunter whether the US could “field a brigade [5,000 troops] tomorrow” if necessary, or if critics were correct that the Armed Forces are dangerously overstretched.
The following was Representative Hunter’s answer to the Director’s question:
– Oh absolutely! We have, there are about 2.5 million Americans in the defense establishment. That is active and reserve and guard. There’s 140,000 of those personnel, that’s less than 10%, in Iraq and about another 20,000 in Afghanistan. So in terms of personnel you have a 2.5 million person force just to make it very simply broad terms and 140,000 of those persons – that’s less than 10% – are in the war fighting theatres. And you have obviously other Americans deployed around the world. But those are the two war fighting theatres.
– So yes, if the question is, are we totally tied down to the point that we couldn’t put a brigade out to handle a brush fire, the answer is, absolutely, we could handle that brush fire. Now if you get to the point where you’re asking about major wars? let’s say we had a major land war – we could handle it. We’d have to handle it in a different way than perhaps we’ve handled it in the past.
– We could handle a major war. Nonetheless, we put into the defense bill an additional 20,000 Army personnel last year and an additional 2,000 United States Marines and we’re putting in an additional 10,000 on the Army side an additional 1000 marines on the Core side. I think we do need to bolster the force, but again, you have a 2.5 million person military and only 140,000 of those folks are in Iraq and only about 20,000 in Afghanistan. (Rep. Duncan Hunter (R – CA), Chairman of the House Armed Service Committee. Washington Journal, CSpan television broadcast, (June 10, 2005)).
Given the confidence of Rep. Hunter in the capability of the United States Armed Forces, Survivors United calls on him to co-sponsor H.R. 1424, the Darfur Genocide Accountability Act, which would give the President the ability to do whatever is necessary to stop the genocide that has taken 400,000 lives in Western Sudan.