GET INVOLVED. Laura at 11-D recommends that readers write their representatives and consider donating to relief organizations working in Darfur. There is more to the Darfur story than meets the eye. Consider this passage from Richard Miniter's Shadow War (details or compare prices) at p. 97.

To many, Darfur was on the verge of becoming another Rwanda, a hideous scene of death and destruction on a desolate African landscape. In reality, it is another Somalia, where tribal warfare and ideological hatred foster anarchy, murder, and starvation. And, as in Somalia in the early 1990s, al Qaeda plays a role.

Former Secretary of State Powell calls what is going on genocide. The United Nations turns a blind eye. Accident?