That is not a snarky rhetorical question, but an honest inquiry when I see things like this (via Kim-Loi Mergenthaler). When people say “Stop the genocide!” I can only assume they mean actual armed intervention, since I somehow doubt strongly worded petitions are going to deter the Janjaweed from carrying out their bloody work.

Indeed, the site linked above explicitly calls for “humanitarian intervention” along the lines of what was done in Kosovo – should we take that to mean airstrikes, or are we actually supposed to put troops on the ground this time? Either way we face the unappealing choice of civilian casualties (airstrikes) or American boys (and girls) engaged in ground warfare against the Sudanese militias (and government?). And how long are we supposed to stay on afterwards to “keep the peace”?

I’m not necessarily opposed to an intervention, but let’s be clear on what we’re talking about.