Human rights, denuclearization are the next step for North Korea negotiations

“What cannot be undone [...] is the knowledge that North Korea has gained in their nuclear development program since 2002”, said Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) at a full committee hearing on the North Korean Six-Party Talks and implementation activities. “That knowledge will always exist, and with it, the concern that a weapons program could be resumed, or the knowledge proliferated.”

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill of the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs said that cooperation with the People’s Republic of China has been very important for the talks, and has helped the nation emerge as a responsible stakeholder in the region. He went on to say that during the first two phases of negotiations, North Korea has shut down and began dismantling the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center in exchange for 420,000 tons of heavy fuel oil and other energy supplies.

Hill also said that the US will continue to push the North Korean government for information on abductions of Japanese citizens, while also negotiating continued human rights reforms in response to reports of abuse.

William Tobey, deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation in the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration said that the third phase of negotiations will focus on implementation of comprehensive verification and denuclearization, and that the costs of these activities would be substantially higher than the previous steps. However, Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) expressed concern over the costs of the next phase, expressing a desire to discuss sharing the expenses with other 6 members of the talks.

Military training misconstrued at Guantanamo

The origins of aggressive interrogation methods were discussed by the Senate Armed Services Committee. In his opening statement, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said methods used in US military programs that intend to help captured American forces resist violent interrogation through simulation have been twisted by military forces and used to interrogate. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) added that the Bush administration used “bizarre legal theories” to justify interrogation strategies and asserts that its decisions will be considered shortsighted in the future. Graham expressed concern with the Supreme Court’s decision that prisoners in Guantanamo Bay have the right to habeas corpus, saying that Americans will be disturbed to realize that they have the same constitutional rights as terrorists.

Dr. Jerald Ogrisseg, a former Air Force psychologist, said that the Air Force’s (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) SERE program is not intended to teach interrogation but rather to help captured Americans resist forms of interrogation used by states and parties that are not in compliance with the Geneva Convention. Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Daniel Baumgartner Jr. said a memo outlining physical pressures put on American prisoners-of-war sent to him by Ogrisseg was requested by the office of the Secretary of Defense. Both Baumgartner and Ogrisseg said they were under the impression that the Department of Defense wanted to determine appropriate interrogation procedures and had that they had no reason to assume the memo would be used to promote improper methods.

Ogrisseg said Navy SEALS subjected to brief waterboarding in training repeatedly stated they would divulge information to captors if faced with the waterboard again. Navy procedures allowed for trainees to be waterboarded for no more than 20 seconds with no more than two pints of water. Baumgartner said what the committee referred to as “SERE techiniques” are used often and have worked against American troops. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) stated that it would have been more logical for the Department of Defense to seek interrogation advice from the FBI instead of using a program not meant to teach interrogation. Senator Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) questioned the effectiveness of aggressive interrogation, pointing out the likelihood that captured terrorists have undergone training similar to that of United States Armed Forces.

Home base for al-Qaida: Pakistan?

Before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) recounted to the committee his recent four day trip to Pakistan. The testimony was meant to serve as a first person account on the on going somewhat rocky relationship between the United States and Pakistan.

In his assessment of the on-going relationship with Pakistan, Feingold stated “it is out of this country that we face our most serious national security threat.” Feingold added, “the Central Intelligence Agency has concluded that it is Pakistan that is the central front in the fight against al-Qaida.”

Throughout his testimony Feingold made a point of stressing the need for the United States to engage in the new Pakistani leadership. Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI) reiterated Feingold’s point of view “What makes sense is that we have to engage the political leaders.” Feingold concluded his remarks by focusing the committee’s attention on the Pakistani elections from six months ago and which ended the presidential rule of Pervez Musharraf. “One change was in the north west province where I believe a more traditional more hard lined religious party was defeated by a more opened minded party and so that was an exciting development instead of a hard lined approach that maybe people were tired of the old way of rule.”