“Does the New York Times Editorial Board really care about accuracy?”

[The New York Times did not publish this letter, or indeed any letter on this consequential editorial declaring the views of The Times on the independence of South Sudan. Nor was a correction issued, despite my repeated communication with the Public Editor of The Times. This represents a perversely arrogant and ill-informed attitude toward a subject of consequence]

July 9, 2011

Letter to the Editor

New York Times

In its July 9 editorial on the emergence of an independent South Sudan, the NYT makes a serious error in characterizing the Obama administration’s Sudan policy:

“The Obama administration, correctly, is not taking Sudan off its terrorism list and normalizing relations until Khartoum fulfills the peace deal and ends the conflict in Darfur.”

In fact, last November a senior administration official explicitly and publicly “de-coupled” the genocide in Darfur (Obama’s campaign characterization) and the issue of Khartoum’s longstanding place on the US State Department list of terrorism- sponsoring nations.  This was, and remains, a serious error in judgment.

Eric Reeves

Smith College

Northampton, MA  01063

413-585-3326

[Eric Reeves is author of A Long Day’s Dying: Critical Moments in the Darfur Genocide (2007)]