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Darfur already has become a synonym for dithering by outside powers in the face of genocide. Soon it may also deliver another grim verdict on the ability of the Security Council to back up its own resolutions. Hamstrung by the unwillingness of veto-wielding members, such as China, to intervene, it delayed action for months, then watered down the language it finally adopted on July 30 to omit any direct sanction against the Sudanese regime. Days after that, an agreement between U.N. and Sudanese officials further weakened the pressure on Khartoum: Among other things, it converted a requirement that the government-sponsored Janjaweed militia be disarmed into a Sudanese promise to provide a list of those it admits to controlling.
One thing we can be sure of, this will the fault of the USA. Not the Khartoum regime, not the Janjaweed, not China, not France and certainly not the UN or the UN Security Council. Only the USA (or an American ally) can be blamed for any bad result.
The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, found in an October 2002 report that “consular officers in Saudi Arabia issued visas to most Saudi applicants without interviewing them, requiring them to complete their applications or providing supporting documentation.” Even before Visa Express started, 99 percent of all Saudi nationals were approved.
Following a public outcry, State shuttered Visa Express [for the Saudi Entity] in July 2002, and also canned consular chief Mary Ryan in the same week. Congress even came close to stripping the visa power from State — an amendment failed by a single vote in committee — but the diplomats’ department staved off those efforts by pledging reform. Lots of it.
State has made some progress, such as doubling the number of names on the watchlist and breathing more life into pre-9/11 programs to identify non-watchlisted individuals who should be barred from the U.S.
What State has neglected to do, however, is enforce the law in Saudi Arabia.
Because of a provision in the law known as 214(b), all applicants are presumed ineligible for a visa until they establish their eligibility. This is supposed to be a high bar to clear, and in most countries, it is. Just not for Saudis. That’s why nearly 90 percent who apply still get approved.
That rejection rate, 10%, is far lower than for other Arab nations. The Saudi Entity should be at the top of the watch list, not on the bypass list.