White House Pushes Back Against Newspaper Profile of Envoy to Sudan

The White House is pushing back against a profile in the Washington Post of the Obama Administration's Special Envoy for Sudan, Air Force Major General Scott Gration (Ret.).

The profile – "Obama Administration Engages Sudanese Regime It Blasted" – was published on the eve of today's National Security Council meeting in which Obama administration policy dealing with Sudan will be discussed, and the principals — Vice President Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, National Security Adviser Gen. Jim Jones (Ret.), and others — will decided whether or not to send any new proposals to the president for approval.

The story states that Gration wants the US to normalize relations with the Sudan, "the only country in the world led by a president indicted for war crimes," a reference to President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

"We would not take a step like that absent significant changes in conditions on the ground," says a senior administration official.

In the story, Gration is quoted saying of the regime, "We've got to think about giving out cookies. Kids, countries, they react to gold stars, smiley faces, handshakes, agreements, talk, engagement."

"This article wildly misrepresents the policy discussions that have occurred in the White House, with quotes that have been cobbled together out of context," said White House spokesman Tommy Vietor.

Says the senior administration official: "The story paints the picture of a wildly irresponsible policy; I feel good that it's not our policy."

"The story seems to suggests our approach is to trust the government of Sudan at its word and provide incentives in hope that by providing incentives they will somehow change their behavior," says the official "That's wildly inaccurate. There is no talk of incentives until there is a change of conditions on the ground — verifiable changes in conditions on the ground."

Kris Coratti, director of communications for The Washington Post, said the newspaper stands by the story.

Another section says: "Although many say the government has orchestrated the chaos, Gration spreads the blame. Rebels have turned into criminal gangs and failed
to unify for peace talks, he said. And many displaced Darfuris are dealing with 'psychological stuff' that is leading to unhelpful mistrust of the government and preventing their return home, he said."

Gration's views are misrepresented and trivialized by the reporter, says the official.

Another passage describes Gration meeting with Salva Kiir Mayardit, President of autonomous Government of Southern Sudan, which is preparing for a vote to secede. Bashir has demanding 75% vote turnout in order for that vote to be legitimate. Gration in his meeting with Mayardit supports "the ruling party's argument, saying it had legitimate concerns about the referendum. Gration urged southerners to trust the government that waged a brutal war against them for 20 years."

The official says the Obama administration does not have a policy position on what the vote turnout needs to be for that secession vote.

The story alarmed many Darfur activists.

In response, the Enough Project, Save Darfur Coalition, and Genocide Intervention Network released the following statement: "The quotes from Special Envoy Gration are deeply troubling. The time is well past for the President, Vice President and Secretary of State to exert much-needed leadership over U.S. diplomatic efforts with Sudan or face the prospect that Sudan will descend into much broader violence."

John Norris, Executive Director of the Enough Project, noted, "It is incredibly offensive for the Special Envoy to argue that 'psychological stuff' is the main impediment keeping Darfuri refugees and the displaced from going home. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, government-backed janjaweed militias still roam freely in Darfur, and U.N. peacekeepers can't even protect themselves. The Special Envoy seems to lack even a rudimentary understanding of humanitarian principles or the real situation on the ground. People aren't going home because they fear being killed, raped and robbed."

Jerry Fowler of the Save Darfur Coalition added, "It's jarring to hear talk of 'gold stars' and 'smiley faces' for a regime headed by an indicted war criminal. We have always insisted that the best way to deal with Khartoum is a sensible balance of pressures and incentives. The pressures part of that calculation seems to be missing in General Gration's comments. The Sudanese government is primarily responsible for creating the political instability in Sudan and bears the brunt of the responsibility for ending it. And blaming the victims for not being more open minded towards their oppressors defies logic."

Sam Bell, Executive Director of Genocide Intervention Network, added, "This article casts the importance of the Principals Meeting in stark relief. Senators Obama, Biden and Clinton all spoke compellingly about the need to take a tough and principled stand with Khartoum. If Washington is going to start taking war criminals at their word, despite the long list of Khartoum's broken commitments, an even larger tragedy will soon unfold."

The senior administration official said that she understands why the Darfur groups reacted that way, since they assumed the Washington Post story was accurately reflecting the administration's position and Gration's views. But it doesn't, the official said.

-jpt

UPDATE: For more on this, please check out the blog of Bec Hamilton.