I commend to you an excellent article at Democracy Arsenal about Sudan, and the failure of the powerful nations to stop the genocide in Darfur. (The article is about United States policy, but the point applies equally to the United Kingdom.)

In the eyes of the world, Darfur is a test – maybe the most closely watched test – of who we are. If we put the quest for intelligence on terror above the battle against what we ourselves have called genocide, the answer to who we are is one that will push other countries away, rather than drawing them toward us. This will hurt us in more than just the war on terror. Yes, the fight against terror is important. More important than nearly any other U.S policy objective. But not more important than what we stand for.