A new rapid-response team of over 2,250 civilian Sate Department employees will stand by to monitor geopolitical conflicts, undertaking stabilization and reconstruction efforts when called upon, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has announced.
The department's Civilian Response Corps will be comprised of civilian experts in diplomacy, healthcare, finance, and engineering.
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Here's President Bush's statement on the rescue Wednesday of 15 hostages in Colombia:
"Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak to President [Alvaro] Uribe of Colombia. And he called to give me the good news that hostages had been rescued, including three Americans that had been held since 2003. I congratulated the president. I asked him to congratulate his military and those who had planned it. And I told him what a joyous occasion it must be to know that the plan had worked; that the people who were unjustly held are now free to be with their families."
"And so I'm proud of our relationship with Colombia and I'm proud of my friend, President Uribe. And I appreciate his courage and his strong leadership in the successful operations they waged."
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) said he was pleased by the rescue of 15 hostages in Colombia, but he seemed surprised that a military operation and not diplomacy led to their freedom.
"Well, I'm enormously pleased, especially for the three Americans," said Richardson, a former ambassador to the United Nations, when asked for his reaction to the rescue on CNN Thursday. "You know, I spoke to those families. They asked me to go try to help. And it must be pure moments of joy."
He continued: "But, you know, what is ironic is in the last five or six years, all kinds of negotiations, mediations have moved forward -- the Catholic Church, several countries, mediators like myself. And it's ironic that a successful military operation has secured the hostages."
Asked why he thought the rescue of hostages from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) was 'ironic,' Richardson said: "Well, it's ironic because it shows that the FARC was probably not interested in serious negotiations. And the military operation that took place worked. Usually these situations are resolved through third parties, through mediation. The fact that it was a military hostage rescue is very welcome news. And I think a lot of credit needs to go to the Colombian military, to President [Alvaro] Uribe."
Richardson, who touted his diplomatic meetings with Saddam Hussein and North Korean leaders during his presidential bid, has been mentioned as a possible running mate or cabinet member for Barack Obama.
Richardson added that the rescue, in which undercover Colombia spies tricked FARC into handing over the hostages, and the recent deaths of FARC leaders suggest that the rebel group may be decimated. That could open the door to more Colombian military operations or negotiations to get FARC members to re-enter society.
Eliminating threats from FARC, Richardson said, could lead to reduced tensions between Colombia, a U.S. ally, and other countries in the region, including Venezuela, whose president, Hugo Chavez, has been a vocal opponent of the Bush administration.
"They've all been fighting over the FARC, over moving into each other's territory to go after the FARC," Richardson said. "And so, maybe, hopefully, some very good diplomacy will take place after this."
Congressional computers containing information on global human rights activists and political dissidents were hacked by a source working from China, two congressmen alleged today.
Reps. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and Chris Smith (R-N.J.) said at a press conference that computers belonging to several of their staffers were hacked from a Chinese I.P. address in 2006 and 2007.
"A source from China hacked into the computer of my foreign policy and human rights staff person, then the computers of my chief of staff, my legislative director, and my judiciary staff person," Wolf said. "On these computers was information about all of the casework I have done on behalf of political dissidents and human rights activists around the world."
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Addressing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's (AIPAC) Policy Conference today, John McCain called for a worldwide divestment campaign against Iran, with businesses and investors across the globe severing ties to the country.
"We should privatize the sanctions against Iran by launching a worldwide divestment campaign," McCain said. "As more people, businesses, pension funds, and financial institutions across the world divest from companies doing business with Iran, the radical elite who run that country will become even more unpopular than they are already."
"Years ago, the moral clarity and conviction of civilized nations came together in a divestment campaign against South Africa, helping to rid that nation of the evil of apartheid," McCain said." In our day, we must use that same power and moral conviction against the regime in Iran, and help to safeguard the people of Israel and the peace of the world."
Over 100 nations agreed on a treaty Wednesday to ban current designs of cluster bombs and to destroy stockpiles of cluster bombs within eight years, and Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) are blasting the Bush administration for declining to sign.
"This is really unacceptable," Feinstein said in a press release today. "The United States should recognize the devastation that comes with the use of these munitions. I strongly urge the governments that did not participate in this convention to join this principled effort, and the United States should lead the way. And if this Administration won
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National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley laid out four priorities today for stopping the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: better information sharing, upping individual capabilities of all nations, monitoring financial systems more closely for suspect transactions, and explaining new security challenges to citizens .
Hadley spoke at the Hilton hotel in Washington, DC, at a meeting marking the fifth anniversary of the international Proliferation Security Initiative's launch in Poland. Hadley's speech focused on how dynamics of global security have changed since the Cold War, with nations such as Iran, North Korea, and Libya developing nuclear programs and with global terrorist groups seeking weapons.
See below his priorities for stopping the proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons:
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On a recent trip to Iraq, Reps. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas), Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.), and Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) found themselves traveling in an unconventional fashion for members of Congress: on the ground, in an armored convoy.
Members usually travel by air because it is deemed safer, according to Reyes' office, but when sandstorms grounded their helicopter, the three were forced to travel through Baghdad by alternative means.
According to Reyes' office, an improvised explosive device (IED) was discovered near the route of the group's convoy hours before the congressmen traveled through Baghdad on Sunday.
"We've been at this for five years, and I'm concerned that we still don't control the streets, putting our troops in harm's way," Reyes said today in a release.
The three congressmen were traveling as members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which Reyes chairs. The group departed last Thursday and returned today.
President Bush, scheduled to depart this evening on a trip to the Middle East, conducted interviews with three Middle East TV stations at the White House today and held a roundtable discussion with Israeli print media.
Bush was interviewed by Dubai-based Al Arabiya TV yesterday (transcript). Today, Egypt's Dream TV (transcript), Israel's Channel 10 TV (transcript), and BBC Arabic (transcript) each interviewed the president.
Bush answered questions on his daughter's wedding, Egypt's 60th anniversary, Iranian and Syrian support for Hezbollah, and the war on terror. Many of the questions centered on Palestine.
The president told reporters he is optimistic about negotiating preliminary agreements on Palestinian statehood before the end of his term.
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A former State Dept. official told the Democratic Policy Committee (DPC) today that the department has misled Congress and the American public about corruption in the Iraqi government.
Arthur Brennan, who briefly served in Baghdad as head of the State Dept's Office of Accountability and Transparency in 2007 according to the Associated Press, told Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) that Ambassador Ryan Crocker is either misleading the American public about corruption in Iraq, or is unaware of the corruption due to his own negligence.
Brennan made his statements at a DPC hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The DPC circulated a video of the exchange today; see it below:
When contacted for response, State Dept. spokeswoman Nancy Beck told The Hill, "As we
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