The tens of thousands who gathered in Washington yesterday for a rally say they want to stop the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. We welcome them to the fight, and wish them luck. This newspaper sent a reporter and photographer into Darfur in May 2004. They were among the first American journalists to find firsthand evidence and testimony of atrocities, including ethnic cleansing.

We’d be remiss, however, if we didn’t say that we also hope that the Darfur rally yesterday helps to illuminate the hypocrisy of some of those on the left. They want military action now to oppose a genocidal regime in Sudan and to protect its victims. Yet they opposed military action in Iraq to oust a regime, in that of Saddam Hussein, that had engaged in ethnic cleansing of Iraqi Kurds and Shiites and had rained scud missiles on Israeli cities.

This Darfur double standard was underscored by the list of announced speakers for yesterday’s “Save Darfur” rally. They included at least three members of Congress – Nancy Pelosi, Donald Payne, and Michael Capuano – who voted against the liberation of Iraq. Mr. Payne, a Democrat of New Jersey, has reportedly gone so far as to say of the Iraq war, “I have never seen such a misuse of our power.” Ms. Pelosi, a Californian who is the Democratic leader in the House, has endorsed Rep. John Murtha’s demand for an immediate American withdrawal from Iraq.

The scheduled speakers at yesterday’s Save Darfur rally also included the Reverend Al Sharpton and the Democrat who lost in 1997 to Mayor Giuliani, Ruth Messinger. Rev. Sharpton and Ms. Messinger have marched against the Iraq war in New York behind the banner of United for Peace and Justice, an anti-Israel front group whose steering committee includes a representative of the Communist Party USA.

Just to underscore the double standard, Rev. Sharpton reportedly marched against the Iraq war in New York on Saturday, then marched in Washington on Sunday for more intervention in Sudan. Even worse, the Saturday march was organized by United for Peace and Justice, which has moved well beyond opposing the Iraq war. It now opposes any American action against Iran. “United for Peace and Justice opposes any military action against Iran, as well as covert action and sanctions,” the organization’s Web site says. The site includes letters for activists to send to Congress, saying, “Iran does not present a threat to the United States” and calling for taking away Israel’s nuclear weapons.

Another scheduled speaker at yesterday’s Save Darfur rally was a leader of the Union for Reform Judaism, Rabbi David Saperstein, whose movement sent a letter to President Bush calling for withdrawal of troops from Iraq and arguing that the Iraq war had discredited America in the international community and contributed to the growth of terrorism.

Also a scheduled speaker at the Save Darfur rally was a representative of the National Council of Churches. Its Web site’s “resources for peace” includes a “call on governments to review all forms of military cooperation with the State of Israel including instituting a strict arms embargo until such time that Israel withdraws completely from the Palestinian territories.”

We do not mean to suggest that this hypocrisy poisons the cause of Darfur. The speakers at yesterday’s Save Darfur rally included some supporters of the Iraq war. Mr. Bush himself endorsed the event, meeting with some activists Friday and saying, “for those of you who are going out to march for justice, you represent the best of our country.”

Mr. Bush is way ahead of the leftist Darfur advocates because he supports freedom and democracy and opposes terrorism everywhere – not only in Darfur, but also in Iraq and Iran and Israel. He understands that Iran’s tyrants, Sudan’s regime, and Saddam Hussein are of a type. Before Mr. Bush met with the Darfur activists Friday, he met in the Oval office with a group of defectors from North Korea in what he called “one of the most moving meetings since I’ve been the president.”

Consistency is important here, all the more so because the Holocaust is invoked by so many of the Save Darfur protesters. Those who saw the destruction of European Jewry by the Nazis are moved to prevent the further destruction of the Darfurians by the Sudanese. As well they should be. But when the Holocaust is invoked to protect Africans by those who counsel inaction, retreat, or disarmament when Israelis and Americans are threatened or attacked, one wonders about a double standard.

It’s wonderful and encouraging that tens of thousands turned out to support action in Darfur yesterday and to protest the Sudanese regime. But when one considers that a similar rally against the Iranian president’s vow to wipe Israel off the map attracted but a few hundred participants, it’s unnerving. Perhaps, as our Benny Avni writes elsewhere in today’s Sun, the American victory at the U.N. Security Council on Darfur will pave the way for a similar victory over Iran. For international crisis intervention need not be an either-or proposition. Opposing the war in Iraq while favoring an intervention in Sudan is akin to the position of an American during World War II who favored fighting Japan but taking a strictly pacifist stance toward Germany. It’s so illogical as to make one wonder why.