The Sudanese airforce from what I have read is pitiful. Wikipedia has a list of what they have:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudanese_Air_Force

Like the rest of Africa, I wonder how many they can actually keep in the air at once. I don’t think it would be necessary to ensure that anything taking off would be shot down instantly. The threat that any military aircraft in Dafur could be shot down may keep them grounded.

But I’m reasonably sure that The Chosen One doesn’t believe that self defense is a human right.

And No Fly Zones aren’t cheap, and not diplomatically simple, either. First you need an airbase, in a country on a continent that’s already uneasy about the fact that we created AFRICOM (which is based in Germany.) Unless that base is in a country that borders Darfur, you need overflight rights.

I’m not sure how many fighter planes you’d need, but I figure at least a squadron (12 aircraft), plus AWACS, probably tankers, and helos for CSAR in case a plane goes down. And a ground security force to keep the airbase (or at least, our part of a base in a friendly country) secure.

Not sure what that all adds up to, but in terms of personnel and equipment, you’ll need to have triple that available – one set deployed, one getting ready to deploy, and one recovering from being deployed.

Mr O, if we’re going to crack down on the killing in places where the instability is actually, you know, a threat to our country, how about we start in places like, I don’t know, Detroit, DC, LA, Baltimore, and Philly? Aside from the fact that too many of your voters would end up in jail. Not that that would stop them from voting, at least in Chicago and Washington state.

In any event, a no fly zone would be an exercise in feel good futility. It would tie up air units in a worthless effort and make people think that we are doing some good. All the while, people continue to get slaughtered.

A complete ban on air flights into or out of Sudan might get some attention, as would a ban on investment, loans, and commercial transactions but there is no way China would support it.

Obama has an honest out on this. When he called for a “no fly zone” in Somalia, maybe he was actually talking about the INSECT. As in a “no dipteran” zone.

No more pictures of flies buzzing around rotting corpses. No more flies in the eyes of little starving kids with bloated tummies.

A little DDT is all it would take.

And then you have it: A no fly zone!

I thought there was already a no fly zone. Regardless there should be one.