QUESTION: On Sudan. The Sudanese Government -- the UN has put out estimates that between six and 10,000 people are dying every month and the Sudanese Government denies that. I know you don't have all of our -- the U.S. assessment, probably, off the top of your head, but is that within the estimates that the U.S. would give right now, too?

MR. BOUCHER: Yeah, I think it is. It has been generally in line with our estimates....
....

QUESTION: Okay. Because just yesterday there was a luncheon and the Ambassador of Sudan was introduced by a State Department official. It doesn't seem like the treatment that would be afforded to a government that is believed to be committing acts of genocide.

MR. BOUCHER: As you know, we've maintained relations with this government. There are areas where we think we can move forward, like the north-south talks [to protect the Christians] and Naivasha [location of the talks] situation, and there are areas where they need to do more to move forward. So we continue to use our relationships with the Government of Sudan to try to press for action on all of these points, including and especially, the situation in Darfur.

So the U.S. acknowledges that the Sudanese government is killing off from 6 to 10 thousand people a month yet is perfectly happy to negotiate with them. You just have to marvel at how bad Saddam Hussein must have been.

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The magic word: Genocide