Tom Tancredo: “Mr. Speaker, I stand before Members tonight to urge their support for House Concurrent Resolution 467 which declares…”

“Mr. Speaker, I stand before Members tonight to urge their support for House Concurrent Resolution 467 which declares genocide in the Darfur region of western Sudan. Unfortunately, there is no one among us who is unfamiliar with the word ``genocide.'' Several of us have been personally affected by genocide. The mere mention of the word evokes the horrific images of the gas chambers of the Holocaust, the killing fields of Cambodia, the mass graves of Srebrenica, and the bloodied streets of Rwanda. The atrocities committed in these areas were heinous and must not be belittled by casual usage of the word ``genocide,'' but I assure Members the decision to bring this resolution to the floor and to make such a declaration has been anything but casual. Out of a preconflict population of 6.5 million in Darfur, an estimated 30,000 people have been killed, another 300,000 face certain death in the coming months. Up to 1 million have been internally displaced, and 130,000 others have been forced to flee to neighboring Chad. Remember that this is happening in a country that has undergone the most horrific civil war for over 25 years, where 2 million people have died and 4 million people have been displaced.”