Foreign Policy

President Barack Obama has denounced Myanmar's conviction of Nobel Peace Prize winner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months of additional house arrest.

The pro-Democracy leader was sentenced after an America swam across a lake to reach her villa. That American, John Yettaw, was sentenced to seven years of prison and hard labor.

Here's Obama's statement:

The conviction and sentencing of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi today on charges related to an uninvited intrusion into her home violate universal principles of human rights, run counter to Burma's commitments under the ASEAN charter, and demonstrate continued disregard for UN Security Council statements. I join the international community in calling for Aung San Suu Kyi's immediate unconditional release.

Today's unjust decision reminds us of the thousands of other political prisoners in Burma who, like Aung San Suu Kyi, have been denied their liberty because of their pursuit of a government that respects the will, rights, and aspirations of all Burmese citizens. They, too, should be freed. Suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. I call on the Burmese regime to heed the views of its own people and the international community and to work towards genuine national reconciliation.

I am also concerned by the sentencing of American citizen John Yettaw to seven years in prison, a punishment out of proportion with his actions.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) also released a statement:

“The Burmese dictatorship is making a serious mistake by sentencing Aung San Suu Kyi to additional imprisonment.  She never should have been arrested, much less convicted on meritless charges.  Aung San Suu Kyi, American John Yettaw, and the other political prisoners held by the junta must be freed immediately.  The junta’s actions cast serious doubt on the potential for legitimate elections next year and only reinforce longstanding international concerns about the military junta’s treatment of its own people.

The Burmese dictatorship should understand that only a good-faith effort to start a dialogue with the political opposition and improvement of its deplorable human rights record can lead to better relations with the United States and the rest of the world.  The junta’s latest unjust and short-sighted actions only serves to move the government further down the path of continued international isolation.”

-Ian Swanson

Twice this morning National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones (Ret.) reiterated that former President Bill Clinton did not carry a message from the White House during his trip to free two American journalists from a North Korean jail.

"This was a private mission in which there were no official or unofficial messages sent...by President Obama," Jones told David Gregory on Meet the Press. His remarks echo a similar statement he made to Chris Wallace earlier on Fox News Sunday.

Clinton's excursion--announced to the press only after he secured a "special pardon" for the two women--has received considerable attention today.

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger published an op-ed in the Washington Post claiming that Clinton's mission accomplished "precisely the opposite" of what his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has been trying to do in recent weeks:

"A visit by a former president, who is married to the secretary of state, will enable Kim Jong Il to convey to North Koreans, and perhaps to other countries, that his country is being accepted into the international community--precisely the opposite of what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has defined as the goal of U.S. policy until Pyongyang abandons its nuclear weapons program."

Gregory grilled Jones on this, citing a staged photograph of the former U.S. president and the North Korean leader as evidence that the former president undermined the secretary of state's mission.

Jones, however, dodged the NBC host's question and emphasized recent improvements in the United States' tenuous relationship with North Korea.

Another member of the Obama administraion's foreign policy team, United Nations ambassador Susan Rice, also claimed that former President Clinton's trip was a "private humanitarian mission" on CNN's "State of the Union."

Rice was not previously scheduled to appear on the program.

President Obama sent his well wishes to those gathered in Nairobi, Kenya for the AGOA Forum, promising U.S. assistance to the continent of Africa.

"Today, it is my privilege to address you as President," Obama said in a videotaped message. "I do not see the countries and the peoples of Africa as a world apart. I see Africa as a fundamental part of our interconnected world. In our global economy, our economic fortunes are shared."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is among a number of diplomats in Kenya for talks on the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), trade legislation instituted in 2000 to help with Africa's economic development.

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President Obama expressed relief Wednesday over the release of two American journalists from North Korea after the two arrived safely back in the U.S.

Obama thanked former President Bill Clinton, who traveled as a humanitarian envoy to North Korea to secure the release of the journalists, for his work to secure the safe return of Laura Ling and Euna Lee.

"We are obviously extraordinarily relieved," Obama said of Ling and Lee's return. "The reunion that we've all seen on television I think is a source of happiness not only for the families but for the entire country."

Ling and Lee were arrested and convicted of illegally crossing the border into North Korea while filming a documentary for former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV.

"I want to thank President Bill Clinton -- I had a chance to talk to him -- for the extraordinary humanitarian effort that resulted in the release of the two journalists," Obama said.

"I think that not only is this White House obviously extraordinarily happy, but all Americans should be grateful to both former President Clinton and Vice President Gore for their extraordinary work," the president added. "And my hope is, is that the families that have been reunited can enjoy the next several days and weeks, understanding that because of the efforts of President Clinton and Gore, they are able to be with each other once again."

It was President George W. Bush who presided over the largest socialized expansion of government-supported healthcare, Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) asserted Tuesday.

Ross, a leading member of the centrist Blue Dog Democrat coalition on health issues, said that it was Bush, not President Obama, who pioneered the expansion of government's role in healthcare.

"It was George W. Bush that passed the largest socialized expansion of our government in my lifetime," Ross argued in an interview with a Fox affiliate in Arkansas. "It was called Medicare Part D prescription drug program. The 10 year period for it was well over a trillion dollars."

He said that program exceeds the cost of the healthcare reform bill now before the House.

"The price tag is now under a trillion. That is over 10 years," Ross said. "That is less money than what George W. Bush passed."

Ross's words are a thinly-veiled shot at Republicans who argue that Obama's healthcare plans would result in a massive expansion of government, and create a "government-run" healthcare system.

But Ross, a key swing Democrat whose vote could swing other centrists on the healthcare bill, still said he hasn't made up his mind on whether or not he'll support the final reform bill.

"I don't know how I will vote on the final bill," Ross explained. "There are still 10 more legislative votes before we have a final vote."

He added: "I don't know what the final bill will look like. If it covers illegal immigrants, I'll be against it. If it uses federal funds to pay for abortion, I'll be against it. If it does not allow you to keep what you've got today and always choose your own doctor, I'll be against it."

Watch the video of the interview below:

Former President Bill Clinton's trip to North Korea is a "solely private" mission, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday morning.

Gibbs said the White House would not comment on the former president and husband of the Secretary of State's trip to the regime seeking to free two U.S. journalists being held there as criminals.

"While this solely private mission to secure the release of two Americans is on the ground, we will have no comment," Gibbs said in a statement. "We do not want to jeopardize the success of former President Clinton's mission."

The Department of Defense "dropped the ball" in the 1990s when it came to determining the fate of Navy Capt. Scott Speicher, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said Sunday.

Nelson thanked the Defense Department for its work to locate the remains of Speicher as of late, which were identified in Iraq on Sunday, but shamed the agency for its work in the 1990s.

"I really thank the Department of Defense for staying on this," Nelson said during an appearance on Fox News. "They dropped the ball in the 1990s, but fortunately, we have the evidence now."

Nelson, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has long taken an interest in determining the fate of Speicher, who went missing after being shot down in 1991 during the early days of the first Gulf War.

"It got lost in the bureaucracy," Nelson said of the Speicher case's handling by the Pentagon. "They just forgot about it."

"We walked away from a downed pilot," the Florida Democrat added. "18 years is a long time to through through the emotional ups and downs on this-or-that lead."

25 House Republicans are using their August recess to pay a visit to Israel, the largest delegation of GOP lawmakers to visit that country.

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the only Jewish Republican in Congress, is leading the delegation, Arutz Sheva reported Sunday.

The trip is expected to focus on Middle East peace, as well as national security issues.

Domestic violence in Israel has still overlapped with the trip; a gunman killed three Israelis at a gay club in Tel Aviv.

Cantor has scheduled in August 5th press conference to discuss the trip.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen tamped down talk that the U.S. may increase troop levels in Afghanistan in a tweet Saturday.

Mullen played down an upcoming report from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of the international security force in Afghanistan, which may request more forces for the country.

Mullen dismissed the speculation over the content of McChrystal's report on his Twitter account on Saturday.

He tweeted:

Speculation about Gen. McChrystal asking for more troops is just that: speculation. Work isn't done yet, need to let him finish it.

Reports have swirled, though, that McChrysal will do just that -- especially after troops in Afghanistan incurred their worst fatality toll in years.

The report would also put President Obama in a difficult political position, perhaps forcing him to choose between any recommendation McChrystal might make and political weariness over escalating the military situation in Afghanistan, which is approaching its 8th anniversary this fall.

Cross-posted to the Twitter Room.

82 lawmakers from both parties wrote President Obama on Friday, urging him to recognize the Armenian genocide and focus on normalizing relations between Turkey and Armenia.

The lawmakers -- led by Reps. George Radanovich (R-Calif.), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) -- asked the president to refocus himself on his campaign promise to recognize the genocide.

"We write to you with our concerns about Turkish backpedaling on the agreed upon roadmap to normalize relations between Turkey and Armenia," the lawmakers said in their letter.

"While the Government of Armenia remains committed to this roadmap and has long offered to establish ties with Turkey without preconditions, Turkey's public statements and actions since April 24th stand in sharp contrast to this agreement and undermine U.S. policy that normalization take place without preconditions," they added.

Schiff had introduced legislation earlier this year to officially label the killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1917 as "genocide."

"We hope that renewed efforts and focused resources from the Administration can be utilized to nurture the Armenia-Turkey normalization process without preconditions and within a reasonable timeframe, and continue to remain strongly supportive of your stated campaign policy to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide," the lawmakers said.