Word: gration
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...some ways, the Darfur activists' problem over the past few months hasn't been Obama so much as his special envoy to Sudan, Scott Gration. A decorated soldier who commanded the no-fly zone in northern Iraq for 2½ years, Gration campaigned for Obama last year, giving him much needed cachet among the military set. But his Africa experience consists of being raised by American missionaries in the Congo, from where they were evacuated three times - he likes to remind his African interlocutors that he too was once a refugee...
...appointment of Gration was something of a surprise to Washington's Sudan watchers; Gration's own first choice was to head NASA. And as a plainspoken first-time diplomat, Gration hasn't exactly been careful with his choice of language. Before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee in late July, Gration testified that sanctions on Sudan should be loosened, a statement he had to retract within days. Earlier, he asserted that only "remnants of genocide" remain in Darfur, provoking fury from Darfur advocacy groups and directly contradicting his boss's position: Obama has said three times since January there is currently...
...After General Gration told the Washington Post that "cookies" and "gold stars" might be useful in forcing Khartoum to cooperate, a few dozen activists from the group Students Against Genocide sarcastically delivered a large cardboard cutout gold star and smiley face to the front of the Sudan embassy in Washington...
...With [special envoy] Scott Gration in Sudan and now you, is there a trend toward diplomatic engagement with war criminals and the systems that shield them? We want genocide to stop but also want the conflict to stop. Issues like contact with governments that have committed these crimes always come up. We should have no nonessential contact with indicted individuals. It is preferable to meet with people who are not accused, but sometimes you need to have that contact. There are different approaches that can be taken, but working that out is something I look forward to doing...
...since you are dealing with the lives of people. When you manage a war, the fuel of wars is people, be it from your side or your enemy's side. So you are dealing with a very dangerous issue and tend to be more objective than anyone else. General Gration did not disappoint us. He was very objective, courageous, and gave his opinion based on what he saw on the ground...