Foreign Policy

Despite countless assurances from the president that we're safer now than we were before 9/11 this past week we learned the truth - the world is more dangerous today than it was pre-9/11, and the war in Iraq is the main reason why.

This weekend, on 60 Minutes, reporter Bob Woodward will report that our intelligence agencies predict that 2007 is going to be more deadly for American troops than 2006. That's a dire prediction considering that insurgent attacks against our troops are now occurring every 15 minutes.

These reports from our intelligence agencies should serve as a wake-up call to House Republicans, who, for three years, have sat on the sidelines, neglecting their oversight responsibility of the war in Iraq.

How bad do things have to get in Iraq before this Republican Do-Nothing Congress actually takes action? When will they finally begin asking questions? When will they finally begin to hold Secretary Rumsfeld and others in the president's war cabinet accountable for their incompetence?

The American people deserve a Congress that will take its oversight responsibilities serious. It's time for a change here in Congress, and it's coming this November.

The new version of my Iran Freedom and Support Act provides U.S. officials with the necessary tools to prevent Iran from acquiring the technical assistance, financial resources, and political legitimacy to develop nuclear weapons and support terrorism. It enjoys Administration, Senate, and bi-partisan support and provides critical leverage to secure cooperation from our allies in countering the Iranian threat.

Congress this week will pass the massive FY07 Defense Appropriations Bill, which will include almost $3 billion critically needed by our Air National Guard and Army National Guard.  Since 9/11 we have been asking our Guard members and Reservists (and their families, and employers, and communities) to take on more and more missions here and abroad.  And they have delivered spectacularly.  But along the way, in some ways we have neglected our side of the contract with them.

The National Guard at one point accounted for almost 40 percent of the troops on the ground in Iraq.  The hard duty of Iraq and Afghanistan has created a desperate need of replacements for equipment lost, broken, or left behind on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan.  These shortfalls mean less equipment to handle emergencies at home, like natural disasters.  It's irresponsible and counterproductive to simply neglect the needs of one of the country's premier and primary defense forces, on which we rely so heavily.

As the co-chairs of the Senate's National Guard Caucus, Senator Kit Bond and I have seen it as our responsibility to blow the whistle on these shortfalls and to try to convince Congress to do something about it.
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With the Senate taking up the border security bill we passed in the House last week to construct 700 miles of physical fence and a virtual fence along the entire border, now is the time it must be serious and follow through. It is clear to me that what we need to secure the border is the proper combination of boots, barriers and technology. I call on the Senate to join the House and take action to pass this meaningful legislation.

Last month, I took a trip to the Southern border, to see for myself just what was needed to secure that border. I saw, that if left unchecked, illegal immigration will continue to threaten our national security, have compounding affects on our public systems and corroborate a culture of lawlessness. In order to stop the harmful components of illegal immigration, we have to attack the problem at its root, our borders. If we don't secure our borders first, any other comprehensive reform will be undermined by those who wish to harm our country by finding safe haven on a
porous border.

The border agents I talked with while on the Southern border are ready and willing to do the job if given the proper tools. This bill is will provide some of those tools and we must provide them now to stop this growing problem.

Border security is long overdue and it has to be addressed before Congress can implement any sensible, comprehensive immigration proposals. As we continue to work toward a solution to stop illegal immigration, I will persist in supporting only limited, legal immigration to keep our economy stable and our families safe.

Unfortunately, Hugo Chavez has become a clown.  What's even more unfortunate is his deliberate efforts to intervene and interefere with the internal politics of his neighbors, jeopardizing democracy and destabilizing many Latin American nations who are struggling to secure a better future for their citizens.

The inflammatory rhetoric of President Chavez at the United Nations should come as no surprise given his association with pariah's such as Iran's terror-sponsoring leader and Cuba's brutal dictator.  The U.S. must be concerned about these extremist, undemocratic leaders who seek to gain domestic popularity by attacking the US and its President, inciting hatred against our nation and the freedom and liberties that we stand for and seek for all human beings to enjoy. Our country is the beacon of hope for millions across the globe and our founding principles of democracy are the tenets of free societies. Let us remember that those who so viciously attack us are the very ones who are seeking to deny their people the inalienable rights which we are all born with.

In response to the worst terrorist attack ever on American soil, five years ago the United States led an international coalition to liberate the Afghan people from brutal Taliban rule.  Those who had aided and sheltered the perpetrators of the September 11th attacks were swept from power.

Five years later, the Bush Administration has badly bungled Afghanistan policy, and we are once again on the brink of losing Afghanistan to armed terrorists.  The Administration failed – and failed in a potentially catastrophic way – to stabilize Afghanistan so that it can never again be used as a terrorist base.  The horrifying truth is that, as a result, we in this country are in many ways less secure today than we were five years ago.

This morning the House International Relations Committee held a hearing examining these issues.  We had an impressive lineup of expert witnesses, but not one from the Bush Administration.  The Administration refused to send an authoritative witness.  As Afghanistan goes down the tubes before our eyes, the Administration couldn’t be bothered to spare for even one hour the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Ronald Newman – who was scheduled to be in Washington today – to appear before our committee to explain the Administration’s policy in Afghanistan.

By thumbing its nose at us, the Administration shows the world what it thinks about Congressional oversight.  I have urged Committee Chairman Henry Hyde to demand that the Administration send a high-level witness to appear before us next week.

Yesterday, I led the committee’s Democrats in sending a letter to President Bush calling for immediate action to reverse the descent of Afghanistan into lawlessness.  The enormous sacrifices made by American and other troops to liberate Afghanistan and its people must not be in vain. Read more...

The U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement will benefit U.S. farmers, workers, and businesses by creating new market opportunities throughout the United States.  The United States has already implemented free trade agreements with four other countries in the Middle East-Bahrain, Israel, Jordan, and Morocco-and I am confident that the Oman Free Trade Agreement will ultimately lead to new market access opportunities for American products in yet more Middle Eastern countries.

This past Sunday, I spoke before tens of thousands who gathered in New York City’s Central Park, united in their compassion and concern, to call for an immediate end to the genocide in Darfur.  One of the reoccurring themes of the rally, and one that was a focus of my speech, was that the need for a presidential special envoy to Sudan to help push the peace process forward in Darfur.

That request became a reality yesterday, when President Bush named former United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Andrew Natsios as Presidential Special Envoy to Sudan during his speech before the United Nations General Assembly.  This welcome news brings additional focus, urgency, energy, and gravitas to U.S. efforts to help the people of Darfur and bring lasting peace to all of Sudan.

However, there are many challenges that lay ahead for the new envoy, including, and most imminent, the need to allow UN peacekeepers on the ground in Sudan to protect the people of Darfur.  This afternoon I will convene a hearing to explore this and other challenges that the new envoy will face in this position.

Mr. Natsios has a full plate from the moment he starts this job.  Not only is the crisis in Darfur is getting worse by the hour, but north-south tensions are rising, putting the peace agreement that ended the 22-year civil war in jeopardy.  At today’s hearing, we will examine the ways that we can effectuate positive change and help settle the protracted disputes that have kept lasting peace from taking hold in the war-torn nation of Sudan.

Tomorrow is the five year anniversary of our military intervention in Afghanistan. That was the right war in the right place at the right time.

It's the place where we should’ve captured or killed Osama bin Laden.

Now President Bush says it's an urban myth that his Administration has lost focus on Osama bin Laden, but the real myth is that Iraq, not Afghanistan, is the center of the War on Terror.

President Bush lost focus on Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora when he held back our military and outsourced the job of killing this barbarian to Afghan warlords.

Where are we today? At a place where America urgently needs a new security strategy to make our country more secure.
There are five principal priorities that demand immediate action: (1) redeploy from Iraq, (2) re-commit to Afghanistan, (3) reduce our dependence on foreign oil, (4) reinforce our homeland defense, and (5) restore America’s moral leadership in the world.  These “5 R’s