by Julianne LaJeunesse- University of New Mexico

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) expressed concern Thursday that the recent decision by the Obama administration to scrap a long-range missile defense system in Eastern Europe could signal that the U.S. is willing to concede to Russian interests.

“There is very little doubt, that in most of the world, that this is viewed as an attempt to gain Russian concessions on the Iranian nuclear issue,” McCain said during a Senate Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. “That’s the interpretation. It was Machiavelli that said ‘It’s not what you do, it’s what you appear to do.’”

During the hearing, McCain questioned the Defense Department’s motives for changing the 2007 long-range missile plan in Poland and the Czech Republic. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates originally created the Bush administration’s plan, and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy said that she personally saw the deliberation Gates put into the Obama administration’s new short-range missile plan.

At the hearing, McCain said some of the newspaper accounts he’s read lead him to believe the international community doesn’t buy the Department of Defense’s arguments about the technological benefits of short-range missiles in Europe, noting that the time it will take to implement new technologies will be time the United States and European allies will be left with weakened military defenses.

McCain added that he’s curious about how new U.S. missile policies will affect Polish and Czech policies.

“I think it’s worth noting the Czech Republic currently have NATO forces deployed, as well as 100 personal deployed in Kandahar,” he said. “The Polish currently have 2, 000 troops in Afghanistan. I would be very interested in the future to see how firmly the Poles and the Czechs stand behind those commitments.”

McCain went on to argue that he agrees building and using defenses against short-range missiles are needed, but not because of the “belligerent threats the Iranian regime continues to pose to the United States and the rest of the world.”

Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said he believed the new short-range missile approach is positive because it “addresses more directly and effectively Iran’s missile threat, it maintains and expands our security commitment to Europe, including Poland and the Czech Republic, [and] it opens the door to working cooperatively with Russia on a missile defense system that could not only provide greater protection to Europe, but also make a strong statement to Iran, that Europe, including Russia will take unified action against Iran’s threat.”

Senators Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) shared many of Sen. McCain’s views, with Lieberman asking why the U.S. cannot adopt a dual system with short and long-range missiles.

Defense Spending Bill Includes Plan For Enemy Combatants

The legislation that will streamline Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ vision of a sleeker military will also include provisions dictating how the U.S. will try enemy combatants.

“Military commissions…can play a legitimate role in prosecuting violations of the law of war, but only if they meet standards of fairness which have been established by the Supreme Court,” said Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) during a press conference Thursday.

As it stands, the National Defense Authorization Bill For Fiscal Year 2010 does not address the fate of Guantanamo detainees, but their eventual destination is expected to be a major issue when the bill goes to the Senate floor in approximately two weeks.

While the bill cuts funding for a variety of out-of-date or wasteful programs, including the production of the VH-71 Presidential Helicopter and the transformational satellite program, funding for F22-Raptor jets remained untouched. On Wednesday President Barack Obama announced that he would veto the bill unless the F22 program was discontinued.

By Jonathan Bronstein, Talk Radio News Service

Senators Mitch McConnell (center) and James Inohofe (left)

Zacarias Moussaoui, a convicted conspirator in the September 11 attacks, was jailed in the suburban Alexandria, Virginia, during his trial beginning in 2002. The effect that he had on the city was immense, as busy thoroughfares were shut down when he traveled back and forth from the jail to the court, and the entire jail was placed on lock down anytime he left his cell.

The fear of many members of Congress is that this dilemma will be replicated in cities throughout America because of the imminent closure of Guantanamo Bay.

On January 22, 2009 Barack Obama signed an executive order that would close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay in one year. This means that all detainees need to be relocated, and this process must occur quickly.

Senate Republicans are firmly opposed to the closure, and are gaining support from Democrats.

“We (the Republicans) feel united in wanting to do something to make sure we keep that (Guantanamo Bay) resource down there since there is no alternative,” said Senator James Inohofe (R-Okla.) today at the Senate Republicans weekly press conference.

The alternatives, according to Inohofe, would be to place detainees in two prisons Afghanistan, Bagram and Kandahar. But those prisons only accept Afghan citizens and refuse to take in terrorists from other nations, such as Yemen and Pakistan.

“Guantanamo Bay is the perfect place for terrorists,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who continued to say, “It has worked very, very well. No one has escaped from Guantanamo Bay since September 11, 2001.”

McConnell was pleased with the recent Democratic support for keeping Guantanamo Bay open, “They (the Democrats) are coming in the right direction.”

However, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) did not believe that the closure of Guantanamo Bay was necessary because he, along with Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) and both Presidents Bush and Obama, believe that “Guantanamo makes us less safe.”

“The Senate overwhelmingly, does not want terrorists to be released in the United States,” said Reid vehemently.

Reid refused to divulge anymore information about the possibility of detainees being relocated to United States’s prisons, only saying “We (the Senate) do not want them around.”

However, Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.) refused to state that Michigan would not accept Guantanamo Bay detainees, “If the governor and local government accept them then that ought to be considered.”

The acceptance of detainees would require the construction of a large, maximum-security prison that would help create jobs and stimulate the economy, which is the main reason why Levin believed that states would agree to accept detainees. But he reiterated that the local governments must make the decision.

“The surge helped achieve a lower level of violence. It has not yet achieved its stated purpose- political accommodation among Iraq’s leaders,” Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich) said in his opening statement at the Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on the Situation in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our “open-ended commitment in Iraq” is an invitation to “continued Iraqi dawdling and dependency,” and it’s carrying the costs of the lives of Americans and billions of dollars.

Senator John Warner (R-Va) expressed his respect for Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and said that he’d had the opportunity to work with every Secretary of Defense since 1969, and that “you never shot from the hip.” Gates, Warner said, understood that they needed bipartisan support and that Gates had it like Warner had never seen before. We thank you, Warner said, but there is much to be done. I commend the concept of the surge, he said, and I commend most heartily the courage of the troops. By any fair and pragmatic judgement, it has been a success.

The withdrawal of approximately 3,400 non-combat forces began this month, Gates began, saying that it will continue through the fall and winter, and finish in January. The drawdown is possible, he said, “because of the success achieved in reducing violence and building Iraqi security capacity.” There has been a fundamental change in the nature of the conflict, and “no matter what you think about the origins of the war in Iraq, we must get the endgame there right.”

In response to a congressional question of the assessment of the new government in Pakistan and their willingness to work with the United States, Gates said they’re already seeing positive signs with Pakistan, because Pakistan has suffered a lot of casualties and they’ve captured terrorists. What’s important in Pakistan, is to forge a new stronger partnership with the civilian government. The recent attacks have made it clear to them that there is an existential threat to Pakistan.

Gates said he is not satisfied with the civil reconstruction and the development of the capacity of the Afghan government. “That war on terror started in this region, and it must end there.” The reality is, Gates continued, is that in the last 18 months, we have added over 20,000 troops to Afghanistan, and there are two considerations about the situation. One, we need to think about how heavy a “military footprint” the United States ought to have in Afghanistan, and are we better off channeling resources instead into “building the Afghan Army” as quickly as possible. Two, (which he says he feels is evident to all), is that without changing deployment patterns, and length of tours, we do not have the forces to send three additional brigade combat teams to Afghanistan at this point, but they will probably become available in the spring/summer of 2009. That’s a decision that will ultimately be up to President Bush’s successor.

Code Pink, an anti-war group, proliferated the audience, wearing “Bail out of Iraq” placards and multitudes of pink buttons, signs, and t-shirts. They mainly sat quietly in the audience, appropriately not holding signs above their heads, but at one point one member started calling out “shame!” during Gates’ speech.

Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) says that the knowledge North Korea has gained from its nuclear program can never be undone, and there will always be a weapons or proliferation threat from the nation (:25).

 

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Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) and Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) testified before the National Parks Subcommittee hearing to discuss a series of bills that would the establishment of a commemorative trail in connection with the women’s suffrage movement, in addition to preserving key environmental regions.

Clinton stated that “heritage tourism” is critical for economic development that more communities are beginning to use for advancement. The series of bills would create the “Votes for Women History Trail Route” in the state of New York. Dole said that public involvement in public parks is also important to preserving hunting and fishing areas.

However, Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) expressed concern over the bills’ provisions on cattle grazing, hunting and maintenance of forests. He stated that amendments needed to be made to address these serious concerns.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) quotes CIA lawyer Jonathan Fredman who advised that if a detainee dies due to waterboarding, then the interrogator is “doing it wrong.” (0:40)

 

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The origins of aggressive interrogation methods were discussed by the Senate Armed Services Committee. In his opening statement, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said methods used in US military programs that intend to help captured American forces resist violent interrogation through simulation have been twisted by military forces and used to interrogate. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) added that the Bush administration used “bizarre legal theories” to justify interrogation strategies and asserts that its decisions will be considered shortsighted in the future. Graham expressed concern with the Supreme Court’s decision that prisoners in Guantanamo Bay have the right to habeas corpus, saying that Americans will be disturbed to realize that they have the same constitutional rights as terrorists.

Dr. Jerald Ogrisseg, a former Air Force psychologist, said that the Air Force’s (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) SERE program is not intended to teach interrogation but rather to help captured Americans resist forms of interrogation used by states and parties that are not in compliance with the Geneva Convention. Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Daniel Baumgartner Jr. said a memo outlining physical pressures put on American prisoners-of-war sent to him by Ogrisseg was requested by the office of the Secretary of Defense. Both Baumgartner and Ogrisseg said they were under the impression that the Department of Defense wanted to determine appropriate interrogation procedures and had that they had no reason to assume the memo would be used to promote improper methods.

Ogrisseg said Navy SEALS subjected to brief waterboarding in training repeatedly stated they would divulge information to captors if faced with the waterboard again. Navy procedures allowed for trainees to be waterboarded for no more than 20 seconds with no more than two pints of water. Baumgartner said what the committee referred to as “SERE techiniques” are used often and have worked against American troops. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) stated that it would have been more logical for the Department of Defense to seek interrogation advice from the FBI instead of using a program not meant to teach interrogation. Senator Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) questioned the effectiveness of aggressive interrogation, pointing out the likelihood that captured terrorists have undergone training similar to that of United States Armed Forces.

At the DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee hearing, Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich) says when there is only one name on the ballot, that’s not appropriate. What we’ve done is what you have wanted us to do, which is to say that we tried to fix it, and we’re here as a reform group, and we’re proud that we tried to reform the system. We’re not going to back away from that, but how do you have a fair reflection of a flawed primary? (1:02)

 

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In his speech addressing Congress before the full committee hearing on his nomination to be reappointed to grade of general and to be commander of the United States Central Command, General David Petraeus said there are four concerns. The first is violent extremism, including but not limited to al Qaida. Second, weapons of mass destruction and lack of transparency by countries such as Iran, which he said is a major cause of concern. Third, lack of sustainable economic development in the Middle East, which is a serious security concern, as poor communities can cause hotbeds of extremism. Fourth, narcotics and arms smuggling which can threaten legitimate operations and can help out terrorists. While this is not an exhaustive list, he said, this is a basic list. (more…)