Foreign Policy

Many breathed a sigh of relief when the Iraqi government approved a U.S. troop withdrawal pact last week, roughly validating the timeline set out by President-elect Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign, but a handful of anti-war representatives are maintaining their opposition to the pact.

A bill expressing disapproval of the deal was put forth yesterday by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), who leads the House Progressive Caucus, along with five of her fellow caucus members and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).

Lee and other anti-war Democrats have long opposed the negotiating process for the security pact, alleging that any deal would amount to a treaty, and that the Bush administration sought to circumvent Congress's constitutional authority to ratify it. The new bill levels that same charge at the newly approved agreement, which would see all U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq by the end of 20111.

Some opposition to the pact may have withered:

President Bush will sign two bills this morning blocking imports from Burma, including a ban on Burmese gems from entering the U.S.

The first bill renews Congress's 2003 overall ban on Burmese imports. The second, first proposed by the late House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) in 2007 and put forth recently by current chairman, Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) in updated form, bans Burmese the purchase of Burmese gems from third-party sellers.

The legislation enjoys the backing of human rights groups, and continues the U.S. trend of strengthening sanctions against Burma since 2003.

More than five months after the Rep. Tom Lantos's (D-Calif.) death of esophageal cancer in February, the late lawmaker Read more...

The House and Senate voted last night to remove former South African President Nelson Mandela from U.S. terrorist watch lists, sending legislation to President Bush that would correct what Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called an "embarrassing" error.

In April it was reported that Mandela appears on such lists, and needs special permission to visit the country, by virtue of his association with the African National Congress (ANC), the once-banned anti-Apartheid group he helped lead in South Africa. The U.S. had followed South Africa's lead in designating the group as a terrorist organization.

Mandela pushed for the group to militarize in 1960. At his 1961 treason trial, Mandela argued that the group had resorted to violence in its struggle against Apartheid only after the South African government left it no choice.

The House and Senate voted last night to declassify the ANC, and Mandela, as terrorists.

"Congress finally stands ready to rid U.S. immigration law of this anachronistic blight,

The Senate has reached a deal to reauthorize a federal program to fight HIV and AIDS worldwide.

The extension of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which had called for $15 billion in funding when it was created five years ago, calls for $50 billion more to combat HIV and AIDS. It had been stalled by a group of seven Republican senators, led by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), due to their concerns over the spending increase.

"I would certainly hope that my colleagues on the other side would not block this bipartisan agreement -- especially with the G-8 Conference coming soon," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in a statement announcing the deal. "If the other side does choose to block us from moving forward, I am determined to move forward and plan on offering a consent agreement so that we can complete this legislation early in the next work period."

Reid thanked Sens. Joe Biden (D-Del.) and Richard Lugar (R-Neb.) for leading negotiations over the reauthorization. He also acknowledged Coburn, a spending hawk who has also been a supporter of the program, for his work on the bill.

See Reid's full statement after the jump. Read more...

In a upcoming article in Foreign Affairs, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice writes that the United State did not invade Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein in order to spread Democracy throughout the Middle East but to rid itself of a threat.

"The United States did not overthrow Saddam to democratize the Middle East. It did so to remove a long-standing threat to international security," Rice writes in the July/August edition of Foreign Affairs.

"It is important to remember that we did not overthrow Adolf Hitler to bring democracy to Germany either. But the United States believed that only a democratic Germany could ultimately anchor a lasting peace in Europe," Rice adds.

Rice's claim conflicts with former White House press secretary Scott McClellan's memory of events.

In his much discussed book, McClellan writes that the Bush sold the American public on the war using faulty intelligence because he knew his vision of spreading Democracy throughout the Middle East would not be enough to sway the country.

Rice herself infamously said during the run-up to war in 2003 that she did not want the "smoking gun" on Iraqi WMD to come in the form of to a "mushroom cloud."

McClellan's account puts Bush's vision on Democracy in the Middle East front and center in the President's mind during the push to war, a claim Rice seems to refute.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) just praised a bill pushed by Barack Obama to put more pressure on Iran.

The bill, proposed last year by Obama and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and then-Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), seeks to make it easier for U.S. investors to divest themselves from assets controlled by companies tied to Iran.

Reid said the bill would "place severe costs" on the Islamic state.

"More senators should join this," Reid said.

He did not mention Hillary Clinton in the Iran portion of his address.

The House of Representatives voted this afternoon to create an oil antitrust task force at the Department of Justice (DoJ), and to allow foreign oil cartels to be prosecuted in U.S. courts.

As House Republicans have demanded a solution to high gas prices from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Pelosi posed today's vote as a strong answer.

"The House today with a strong bipartisan and veto-proof margin voted to hold foreign oil cartels and Big Oil accountable," Pelosi said in a statement that called the bill a move "to protect American consumers."

House Republicans have recently blamed Pelosi for high gas prices. In floor speeches and press releases, they have pointed to an increase in gas prices since Democrats took the majority in Congress in 2006, dubbing the increase the "Pelosi Premium." Read more...

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is circulating a letter sent by the speaker of the Colombian House of Representatives to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). In it, Colombian Speaker Oscar Palacio criticizes Pelosi for her opposition to the U.S-Colombia free trade agreement President Bush sent to Congress April 7.

In the letter, Colombian Speaker Oscar Palacio says the U.S. House's decision to shelve the agreement "affords colonial treatment to us that is unbefitting one of the United States' staunchest allies." The House voted April 10 to circumvent the fast-track law applying to trade deals and shelve the agreement, despite President Bush's attempt to force a vote.

Palacio also says arguments based on violence against Colombian union members are "erroneous." U.S. labor unions have used violence against union members as a cornerstone of their opposition to the deal. The LA Times outlined violence against Colombian unionists in March.

"Under the framework of the Democratic Security Policy, Colombia has made great efforts to prevent crimes of that nature from occurring," Palacio says.

See the text of the letter, as provided by USTR, below. Read more...

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) argued that the Bush administration has failed to discuss the merits of the Colombia-U.S. free trade agreement with Congress, leading the House to delay a vote on it.

Rangel had joined other Democrats in delaying a vote on the agreement on Thursday. Rangel and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi argued earlier in the week that that Bush's decision to send the deal to the House this week had showed a "disregard" toward Congress and "jeopardiz[ed] prospects for its passage."

Bush had sent it to Congress under "fast track" rules, which had required to Congress to consider it within 90 days. But the House Democrats' delay means that the vote is postponed indefinitely.

Rangel on CNBC Friday said that the Bush administration has taken the attitude that says, "I don't have to negotiate with you."

"It would seem to me that if you were trying to get something passed in the House of Representatives, you wouldn't confuse me with the facts as you see them," Rangel said. "You would say, 'What is the problem? What is the impediment?'"

Labor groups and both Democratic presidential candidates have opposed the free trade deal, saying that they're concerned about its effects on American workers. Democrats in the House have also called for greater protection in the deal for union workers in Colombia.

Rangel said that the bill's supporters have couched their support for it in terms of its effect on national security and Latin American relations.

"It's absolutely surprising, as I remind them, whether it's the secretary of commerce, the secretary -- every time they come, they want us to know the threat that Hu Chavez is, how we would violate the friendship that we have with these wonderful people -- and I love the Colombian people -- and that Castro is in on it," he said. "And so, it's a question of national defense."