Counting the Fallen

While the Senate prepares to begin who knows how many days debating the confirmations of eight controversial judicial nominees, the genocide in Darfur continues. In a "Letter from Africa" this morning, the New York Times' Marc Lacey examines "the mournful math of Darfur," outlining the work of those trying to determine how many civilians have been murdered there with the tacit if not complicit cooperation of their own government.

"Those trying to tally the terror are engaging in guesswork for a cause," Lacey writes. "They say they are trying to count the deaths to shock the world into stopping the number from rising higher than it already is." He provides an interesting look at the different methods used to estimate casualty figures, and the rationale behind trying to determine an accurate figure.

"the counting continues, and eventually, when Darfur's violence mercifully ends, a number will be agreed upon. That number, like the figure of 800,000 for the Rwanda massacre, will be forever appended to the awful events. The rest of the world, slow to react to Darfur, will then have plenty of opportunity to think about it, and wonder why it was able to grow as large as it did."

We won't have to wonder. We know. For this president and this Senate leadership, not to mention the "Justice Sunday" crowd pushing this nuclear exchange, eight judges have been deemed important than hundreds of thousands of slaughtered African civilians. Compassionate conservatism? Hardly.