The House Foreign Affairs Committee marked up the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act (H.R. 2194).The meeting was opened with remarks from Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) and Ranking Member leana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) who then opened the floor to comments from members of the committee. The bill was widely supported by the committee with three representatives that offered dissenting speaches. Ultimately, the measure was passed by a voice vote with the promise that Berman will push the bill to the House floor as soon as possible.
To read a PDF version of POMED’s notes, please click here. Or keep reading below the fold.
The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission held a meeting to discuss recent movements in the international community to create resolutions against the defamation of religion. The event hosted Joseph Cassidy, Director of the Office of Multilateral and Global Affairs in the Bureau of Democracy; Leonard Leo, chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom; Angela Wu, international director of The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty; Tad Stahnke, director of Policy and Programs at Human Rights First; Zainab al-Suwaij, cofounder and president of the American Islamic Congress; and Felice Gaer, director of the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights of the American Jewish Committee. Panelists focused on the recent U.S.-Egyptian draft resolution protecting the freedom of speech as well as other anti-religious defamation efforts in the international community.
For POMED’s full notes of the event, please click here.
Italy reportedly paid off the Taliban and did not tell NATO allies, an oversight that may have cost the lives of ten French soldiers. Meanwhile, Great Britain has authorized an increase of 500 more troops to Afghanistan. At home, the debate over Afghanistan continues, with Chairman Berman (D-Cali.)of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs observing: “there is no consensus today on how the U.S. should address the challenges we face there.”
The Afghan Ambassador to the U.S. has requested an increase in troops, but Chris Good posits “given the ambiguities surrounding Afghanistan’s fledgling democracy, it probably doesn’t carry a load of political ramifications one way or the other.” Citing such ambiguities, Seumas Milne argues against an escalation: “It was a war for democracy, women’s rights, development and opium eradication - all successively demonstrated to be a hollow joke.”
While they do not argue for a troop decrease, Robert Pape and Chibli Mallat argue the U.S. must reevaluate its basic strategy in Afghanistan. Given that the U.S. is increasingly viewed as an occupier supporting a “corrupt and illegitimate” regime, Pape contends the U.S. should focus on “local empowerment,” the same strategy that has worked so well for the Taliban. Arguing counterinsurgency cannot succeed without a democratic, functioning partner government, Mallat argues the U.S. must first help resolve election fraud before considering troop levels. Mallat suggests a consensus-building assembly, or Loya Jirga, could help resolve the elections.
In his testimony in front of the House Armed Services Committee, Stephen Biddle said that human rights, education and prosperity are only tertiary U.S. interests in Afghanistan, but the U.S. should be mostly concerned with not allowing Afghanistan to host extremist bases or destabilize Pakistan. Meanwhile, David Ignatius concludes, “Stabilizing the whole country is Mission Impossible, I’m afraid.”
The House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia held a hearing Thursday on the implications for U.S. policy of the recent elections in Afghanistan. The five witnesses were Glenn Cowan, Co-Founder and Principal of Democracy International, Inc., Alexander Thier, Director for Afghanistan and Pakistan at the United States Institute of Peace, Peter Manikas, Senior Associate & Regional Director for the Asia Programs of the National Democratic Institute, Dr. Christine Fair, Assistant Professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, and The Honorable Lorne Craner, President of the International Republican Institute.
The discussion centered on whether increased troop commitments could improve the credibility of elections, and whether the U.S. mission should include counter-insurgency and nation-building. POMED’s notes from the hearing can be found here.
The U.S. House Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight of the Committee on Foreign Affairs hosted a hearing Thursday on the current status of Iraq under the U.N. Chapter VII Mandates and Iraq’s relations with the United States. In the first pannel, Dr. Kenneth Katzman of the Congressional Research Service, Michael J. Matheson of the George Washington University Law School and Stephen G. Rademaker of the BGR Group served as witnesses. In the second panel, members of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, Ayyad Allawi and Saleh al-Mutlaq, testified before the subcommittee as well.
For POMED’s complete notes on the event, please click here.
The House Committee on Financial Services hosted a hearing yesterday to examine options for reforming the World Bank into a more democratic and transparent institution, thereby improving development outcomes. The Committee heard expert testimony from Professor Joseph E. Stiglitz of Columbia University, Richard E. Bissell of the National Research Council, Professor Alnoor Ebrahim of the Harvard Business School, Vijaya Ramachandran of the Center for Global Development and Thomas S. Blanton of the National Security Archive at George Washington University.
Among many other points of discussion, Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) questioned why the U.S. often sends mixed messages to foreign aid recipients about the relative importance of pure economic growth versus democratic values. To see our notes from the event, click here.
Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources JacobLew appeared before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs to discuss President Obama’s 2010 budget request for international affairs activities. The administration’s proposed budget would double foreign assistance by 2015, and double USAID overseas personnel.
Yesterday, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission held a hearing on the status of human rights and political reform in Egypt. Discussing these issues before the commission were Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Founding Chair of the Ibn Khaldun Center; Ahmed Salah, an activist and leader of the April 6 movement in Egypt; Cameel Halim, Chairman of the Coptic Assembly of America; Paula Schriefer, Director of Advocacy at Freedom House; and Ayman Nour via telephone from Egypt. The participants urged Congress to pass H.Res.200, a resolution introduced by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), which calls on “the Egyptian Government to respect human rights and freedoms of religion and expression in Egypt.”
The House Committee on Foreign Affairs held a hearing on the future of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, with much of the discussion focusing on the Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement (PEACE) Act, which would increase civilian aid to Pakistan. The first portion of the hearing featured Richard Holbrooke, Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. The second panel included Lisa Curtis, Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, C. Christine Fair, Senior Political Scientist at the RAND Corporation, and Daniel Markey, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton appeared before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs today to discuss the foreign policy goals and strategies of the Obama administration. The discussion touched on Palestine and Hamas, Afghanistan, Pakistan, funding diplomacy and development aid versus funding the military, and the promotion of human rights and democracy around the world.
Jeffrey Feltman, the Acting Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs at the Department of State, appeared today before the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs to provide an update on U.S. policy toward Lebanon. Mr. Feltman also served as United States Ambassador to Lebanon for over three years.
Subcommittee chairman Gary Ackerman (D-NY) began the hearing by noting that U.S. diplomatic engagement with Syria should not compromise our commitment to democracy and peace in Lebanon or to the UN tribunal on the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) expressed his support for U.S. talks with Syria, but said that talking is not enough, and the U.S. must resist Syrian interference in Lebanon. Rep. Ron Klein (D-FL) asked what the U.S. response would be if Hezbollah wins a majority in the parliamentary elections scheduled for June, while Rep. Michael McMahon(D-NY) inquired about ways the U.S. can help moderate parties deliver tangible benefits for Lebanese citizens.
The House Committee on Foreign Affairs held a hearing yesterday afternoon entitled “Striking the Appropriate Balance: The Defense Department’s Expanding Role in Foreign Assistance.” As Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) noted in his introductory remarks, the hearing was convened to explore whether the Department of Defense (DoD) should be heavily involved in long-term humanitarian and development aid in post-conflict or peacetime. Berman pointed out that the staff of USAID has shrunk from about 4,000 to 2,500 since 1975, and the Department of State (DoS) is having trouble filling vacancies. Meanwhile, DoD has stepped into this vacuum, increasingly taking on foreign development and reconstruction assistance projects traditionally handle by civilian agencies. Ranking member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) believed that the military must engage in some humanitarian aid in conflicts to win support of local populace, but should not be involved in long-term development activities. Likewise, Christopher Smith (R-NJ) claimed that the military is effective at providing immediate comfort to local citizens after conflict or natural disasters, but that NGOs are better at sustaining aid efforts.
The witnesses at the hearing were General Michael W. Hagee, former commandant of the US Marine Corps, Nancy Lindborg, President of Mercy Corps, Philip L. Christenson, former assistant administrator of USAID, and Reuben Brigety, Director of the Sustainable Security Program at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
Last Thursday the House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing on “Gaza after the War: What Can Be Built on the Wreckage?” Witnesses included Michele Dunne of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Dr. Ziad Asali, President and Founder of the American Task Force on Palestine, David Makovsky,Director for the Project on the Middle East Peace Process at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and Vice President for Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, Danielle Pletka.
On Wednesday, the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs held a hearing on the U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement and the prospects of renewing the UN mandate. Witnesses were Oona A. Hathaway, Professor of Law at UC-Berkeley; Raed Jarrar, Iraq Consultant; Thomas Donnelly, Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute; and Michael J. Matheson, Visiting Research Professor of Law at GWU Law School.
The witnesses discussed the constitutionality and content of the recently-signed Status of Forces Agreement, Congress’s right to consult on and approve the accord, and the feasibility of renewing the UN mandate.
This morning, the House Armed Services Committee invited former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to discuss her views on a grand strategy for current and future U.S. foreign policy. Sec. Albright stressed that in meeting the multivariate challenges of the 21st century, the U.S. must not abandon its core ideals of liberty and law, and advocacy for human rights and economic oppurtunity for all.
She said in the short-term, the next U.S. president must begin to withdraw troops from Iraq, bolster the Afghan military and help improve governance in Kabul, and open dialogue with Iran.
On Wednesday, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs held a hearing on the current status of America’s policy towards Iran, and the future of that relationship. Topics ranged from the on-going nuclear negotiations to Iraq to human rights and democratic reform. The only witness was The Honorable William J. Burns, Under Secretary for Political Affairs at the State Department. Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) delivered opening remarks.
For POMED’s complete notes on this hearing, click here.
On Wednesday, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs held a hearing on how to enhance the capacity of developmental and diplomatic agencies in the current geopolitical environment. Witnesses included The Honorable J. Brian Atwood, Dean of the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and former Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and The Honorable M. Peter McPherson, President of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges and former Administrator of USAID.
For POMED’s full notes on this hearing, click here.
Thursday morning, Judith Yaphe, Ray Takeyh, and Jon Alterman reported to the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs entitled “More than Just Enrichment: Iran’s strategic Aspirations and the Future of the Middle East.” Dr. Judith Yaphe, Ph.D. is a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies. Dr. Ray Takeyh, Ph.D. is a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and Dr. Jon B. Alterman, Ph.D. is Director and Senior Fellow at the Middle East Program Center for Strategic and International Studies.
All three witnesses agreed that the U.S. has nothing to lose by engaging in dialogue.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Honorable Nadeem Al-Jaberi and the Honorable Khalaf Al-Ulayyan of the Council of Representatives of Iraq testified before the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on how members of Iraq’s parliament viewed the recent developments in U.S.-Iraqi relations. Subcommittee Chairman Bill Delahunt (D-MA) gave the opening remarks.
For POMED’s full notes on the hearing, click here.
Yesterday morning, The Honorable Martin S. Indyk, Mr. Ammar Abdul Hammid, and The Honorable Peter W. Rodman reported to the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on developing U.S. policy toward Syria. Subcommittee Chairman Gary Ackerman (D-NY) gave opening remarks.
For POMED’s full notes on the hearing, click here.
