U.S. should not preemptively attack Iran

U.S. should not preemptively attack Iran

At the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a discussion was held on the implications of relations between the United States and Iran. Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security advisor to President Jimmy Carter, said that Iran must make a concession before the U.S. will negotiate them, the hostility of the region and the “clumsiness” that the problem has been handled has been a problem.

The U.S. has lived with a nuclear armed Russia, China, Pakistan, India and Israel for many years, deterrence will work with Iran as well, but preemptive war will not work, Brzezinski said. Iran is looking to build up its nuclear program to be secure in the region, but it is incorrect to say that they will use nuclear weapons to attack Israel or give them to Hezbollah, he said. The Iranian government is not very popular among the Iranian people and they will not support military action against other nations, they are only building up nuclear weapons to ensure security and safety in a volatile region, Brzezinski said.

The U.S. needs to be willing to lower sanctions on Iran, if the Iranian government promises not to use their uranium for nuclear weapons, Brzezinski said. However, the U.S. should not back down on nuclear proliferation and thereby unintentionally legitimizing the use of force to gain respect and power in the Middle East, he said.

Southeast Asia no longer an afterthought

A discussion on U.S. engagement in Southeast Asia was held at the Woodrow Wilson Center. U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and Ambassador for ASEAN Affairs Scot Marciel spoke at the event and gave his updates and opinions on the matter.

Marciel admitted that countries of Southeast Asia are often a mere afterthought when Americans think of Asia. He pointed out that the impression he received from all his travels to Southeast Asian countries was that Southeast Asia wants more engagement with the U.S. in terms of greater trade and investment, more educational exchange and a partnership to help resolve problems. Marciel noted that, thus far, the U.S. has spent more than $200 million on health assistance in Southeast Asian countries.

While the relationship between the U.S. and Southeast Asia appears to be flourishing, Marciel emphasized that there are more areas to work on such as economics, food and energy security as well as promoting reform in places such as Burma. Marciel said that the final challenge was to ‘get the word out’ on the different aspects of partnership that the U.S. and Southeast Asia are participating in.

U.S., Russia must keep Iran away from uranium cookie jar

Combined, Russia and Iran control about 50 percent of the world's natural uranium reserves. At a hearing entitled "Russia, Iran and Nuclear Weapons: Implications of the Proposed U.S.-Russia Agreement", Chairman Howard L. Berman (D-Calif.) expressed his concerns that Iran
is enriching uranium faster than sanctions are being applied to prevent this. The proposed civil nuclear cooperation agreement between U.S. and Russia would reduce Iran's incentives to expand its own uranium enrichment which would be used to make reactors or bombs.

Ranking Member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Flo.) noted that the House adopted the Iran Counter-Proliferation Act of 2007, prohibiting the submission to Congress of a nuclear cooperation agreement with any country assisting Iran's nuclear programs, by a vote of 397 to 16. However, the administration ignored this and went ahead with the agreement.

Representative Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) testified but was exempted from questioning. Markey opposed the nuclear cooperation agreement saying it aided construction and fueling of the Bushehr nuclear reactor and was part of President Bush's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) program which plans to 'reinvigorate civilian nuclear reprocessing'. Markey noted that the Bush Administration
itself does not believe Russia's proliferation activity has stopped.

Unlike Markey, John C. Rood, acting under Secretary of State, was questioned by no less than 12 committee members. When asked by Senator Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.) as to whether he would sign the so-called 123 Agreement (section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act) if it was modified, Rood would
not give a straight answer. Rood supported the agreement and gave assurance that the steps Russia has put in place in its agreement with Iran mitigated America's own concerns

US Commission on International Religious Freedom give recommendations to Secretary Rice

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom announced their 2008 recommendations to Secretary of State Rice on CPC's, or countries of particular concern. Their 2008 annual report was also released to the President, Secretary of State, and Congress on U.S. policy. The countries that the commission designated as CPC's include Burma, North Korea, China, Sudan, and Turkmenistan among others.

The event, which was held at the National Press Club, was over an hour in length and commission members were on hand to give brief summaries on some of the CPC countries giving reasons as to why certain countries were placed on the list. Most countries were cited as having little or no religious freedom including violations of human rights and international treaties. When Vietnam was discussed, their recent acceptance into the World Trade Organization was spoken of, but the commissioner speaking about Vietnam said they had "regressed" since that point and added that their economic improvements were short lived and simply a hoax.

North Korea was noted as having religious establishments and temples as a show of religion for visitors to the country, but that these establishments are merely fakes and not used. Religious movement has been forced to the underground in North Korea.

Eritrea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Uzbekistan were also designated as CPC's.

Chairman Ackerman and Chairman Delahunt Angry at the Administration's Lack of Cooperation

The Foreign Affairs Committee held a joint hearing today on discussing the U.S. commitments to Iraq. The subcommittees organizing the hearing were the Middle East and the South Asia, led by Chairman Gary L. Ackerman (D-NY), and International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight, led by William D. Delahunt (D-MA).

The hearing was scheduled to have two different panels. First with the Honorable David Satterfield, senior advisor to the Secretary and Coordinator to Iraq, U.S. State Department, and the Honorable Mary Beth Long, assistant Secretary of Defense on International Security Affairs, U.S. Department of Defense. Professor Oona A. Hathaway from Yale Law School and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Lawrence Korb were the witnesses of the second panel.

Senior adviser David Satterfield presented the “progress towards developing a basic framework for normalized relations with the Iraqi government, which will include what is known as a Status of Forces Agreement”. This agreement raised couple of concerns amongst the members of the committee. They were upset of the ongoing lack of consultation of the current administration with Congress. The issue of starting a war without the authorization of Congress was also brought up by Chairman Ackerman, leaving both representatives of the departments with no direct answers. The chairman also questioned the administration’s ability to understand and act upon the Constitution