The Phantom Trip to Chad Posted by Patrick Barry

Displaying an unsurprising grasp of basic facts yesterday, Oliver North expressed relief that President Obama's trip to Chad produced no "serious risks to our future." Maybe that's because the President actually went to GHANA!

That's quite an error, even for a guy like North.  As the New York Times noted this morning Ghana features "a functioning democracy that has managed several peaceful transitions of power," making it "the favorite American success story in sub-Saharan Africa." 

Chad is an altogether different place. The country faces a series of overlapping crises, including an ongoing battle between the government and rebel factions that draw support from Sudan; ethnic violence in the East with "the potential to destabilise the entire country as well as neighbouring states," according to the International Crisis Group; and tens of thousands of refugees and internally displaced persons who have fled either internal conflict, or violence in Darfur.  (For some detailed but digestible background material on these interwoven threads, check out this Enough Project primer)

It's inexplicable why North should confuse the two countries, since they have almost nothing in common. 

Seriously, why does this guy have a regular column? And for that matter, who is editing him?

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One might suggest that amongst policymakers in DC, Botswana is typically the favored example, most especially with the recent decision about upholding the rule of law when it comes to Sudanese dictators.

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