Back to the Middle East, failed trade policy, and a crushing blow to the hopes and dreams of the 29th Congressional District of New York
Every week I try to look around the world, the Nation, and my Congressional district and see what truly hot topics there are and I get forced back into the black hole of American resources that is the Middle East. This week we watched as Lebanon and the Northern Israeli border exploded into open warfare with the unprovoked attack by Hezbollah forces into Israel's sovereign territory and the subsequent murdering of Israeli military forces and the kidnapping of two members of the Israeli Army. There was no justification for this attack and if such an event had happened here in the United States the cry for swift, complete, and total retaliation would have been overwhelming. Despite its popularity, such a cry for action would have been justified.
The major complaint against the Israeli response is that it is not a measured use of force. The back and forth arguments about Israel's tactics should not disract us from the overarching realities of the Middle East today. They are fighting a war against Hezbollah, a nation within a nation, supported by parties outside of Lebanon who are hostile to Israel, with its own organized and deployed Army. If the Israelis fail they place the future of their nation at risk. While there is no measured response to terrorism, many question whether the bombing campaign on the infra-stucture of Lebanon and the death of innocent Lebanese is something that could have been avoided.
However one feels about the issue, this is yet another failing of this administration. We should have a real objective, to put Hezbollah out of business. That would help both Lebanon and Israel. Not only has the administration not addressed the problems in Lebanon with its do-nothing policies, but after 11 days we have no diplomat on the spot. It is like Katrina. The administration is not taking on the issue and dealing with it.
The invasion and occupation of Iraq removed from the region the counter-balance to Iranian adventurism and Iranian intervention via Syria in the affairs of the more stable nations in the area. Israel and to a growing extent, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Oman and the UAE are all at risk. Without the balance of what was one of the most anti-fundamentalist governments in the region, the very enemies we say we are fighting were given a green light. While Saddam Hussein was and is an evil force on the scale of historical despots who have committed crimes of global proportions, he and his government fought and controlled the spread of Islamic fundamentalism both within Iraq, and to some extent, throughout the region. The Iranians wanted him gone as badly as did this Administration and once we invaded and overthrew the government - and then failed to put in place the force needed to create stability,the Mullahs in Iran saw an opening.
This morning Tom Ricks, senior Pentagon writer for the Washington Post, released a new book reviewing the historical timeline of the decision to go to war in Iraq. (link) His book, a crushing condemnation of the Administration at every level, supports the position of former Chief of Staff of the Army, General Eric Shinseki, that we needed a force fundamentally three to four times the size of what was used. Ricks reviews the reality on the ground and how we got there and then goes on to state that we will most likely be in Iraq with large numbers of American military for at least the next ten years. This latter position is where I differ with him and others.
I believe that by continuing our presence in Iraq we are creating many of the very problems that we are trying to prevent and that is why I believe that "out is better than in and sooner is better than later" - a mantra that I have been using for the past year in my discussions both inside and outside of the 29th District.
I call on this Administration to immediately bring the full force of its diminished international credibility to bear on the situation by asking for the return services of two almost iconic Americans with respect to American international diplomacy. Presidents Clinton and Bush Sr. should be asked immediately to travel to the region and work around the clock to reestablish the lines of communication with the governments of Syria, Iran, Israel and others whose influence in region could be key. The goal of this must be to stop the spread of Iranian financial and military influence, re-engage Syria in the regional process and force them to become responsible players in the region, to isolate and then destroy Hezbollah as both a political and military force and replace their leadership with a responsible, moderate Arab government with the resources to provide for the displaced peoples who look to radical Islam as a salvation.
These goals can be accomplished if we are willing to engage in the process. But from the beginning this Administration has walked away from its responsibilities in the international arena. They have gotten so much wrong that merely listing their failures no longer can be done.
In a direct assault on the hopes and dreams of thousands who live in the 29th Congressional District, my opponent this week voted for the Oman Free Trade Agreement - NAFTA for the Arab world (link here to my press release). There are provisions in this Bill that give Oman, or any company incorporated within Oman, the right to operate American ports, a focused and deliberate end-around of the failed Dubai ports security deal. It offers Americans and certainly those of us living in the depressed area of Western New York no benefits and yet creates another drain on American resources that will continue the sucking sound that is the exportation of living wage American jobs overseas, this time to the Arab world in the Middle East. It institutionalizes over time the ability of Arab governments to secure more benefits for their workers than we are wiling give to Americans working here in their own country. It is wrong, un-American and violates every value that I was taught as a child growing up in a fiercely patriotic family. And it also violates those values that I accepted as truthful and necessary while serving for 24 years in uniform. It is a giveaway to an overseas-based, non-taxpaying Irresponsible Corporation whose only focus is the destruction of the environment, the subjugation of a desperate foreign work force and the unsustainable enriching of a very few at the cost of everyone else. My opponent voted for it because he believes in the theory of open-door burn-the-barn-down global free trade. His belief is reflected in the tens of thousands of dollars of campaign contributions that he receives from corporate America - the very oligarchy that stands to benefit from the failed and destructive treaties. With the Oman free Trade Agreement, Randy Kuhl mugged every working family in the region.
The week was concluded with my opponent actually taking the gavel on the Floor of the House of Representatives and gavelling in the President's veto of the Federal Stem Cell research bill. Despite the fact that a large bi-partisan consensus passed the Bill, the President, in a political decision to throw a bone to his ultra-rightwing base, used the only veto of his Administration. While my opponent stated that he only decided how to vote on that Bill in the final hours of hours of vote, he also stated that he should be re-elected because of his vast experience in government policy. If his 20 years and failed legacy in Albany did not give him time to formulate his thoughts on this vital medical issue, just how did he spend his time there? If his 20 months in Congress have not given him exposure to this issue then perhaps he should have used his time on the golf course to put some thoughts behind this (literally) matter of life and death. After all Golf Digest Magazine named my opponent the most improved golfer in Washington DC. His actions and his continued support for this President's policies are against the interests of the 29th District and are the number one reason why we need new leadership in Washington. Simply put, my opponent is a continuing rubber stamp, and now a gaveling stamp, to this President.
A new dawn, with a new American foreign and domestic policy needs to be born in the Halls of -and on the floor of - the US Congress, and that policy needs to be forced upon the Administration through the reality of a new majority in the House of Representatives with members of Congress who understand the importance of the legacy of true American International and domestic leadership.