Rep. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.) states Wednesday morning that Council on American-Islam Relations (CAIR) has handled more than $12 million dollars to the Islamic terrorist organization Hamas. (0:31)
By Kayleigh Harvey – Talk Radio News Service
At a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing today on foreign policy priorities for the Obama administration, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made clear the administrations position on working with the Palestinian political group Hamas. She said, “The President’s policy…is very clear, we will not deal with, nor in any way fund, a Palestinian government that includes Hamas unless and until Hamas has renounced violence, recognized Israel and agreed to follow the previous obligations of the Palestinian authority. That is our policy, but we want to leave open the door so that can happen.”
by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service
In a House Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs hearing today titled, “Gaza After the War: What Can Be Built on the Wreckage?” witnesses and officials expressed their concerns on the Gaza war and whether or not the U.S. should interfere and step in to help.
The war in Gaza escalated when Hamas, a Palestinian national-religious group succeeded in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) elections in January 2006. The conflict in Gaza began because Hamas opposes a two state solution. In a report given by witness, Dr. Ziad J. Asali, President of the American Task Force on Palestine, it states, “The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that between December 27, 2008 and January 31, 2009, 1,380 Palestinians had been killed, including 431 children and 112 women. A majority of those killed were reportedly civilians.” There was also discussion about Iran and if the U.S. should urge them to stop providing Hamas with financial and military supplies as well as training.
Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK said, “I feel so discouraged because in that hearing not only most of the witnesses but from the questions of the congress people, you continue to see a sense that Israel was justified… There was very little expression of sympathy for those who died and were injured. Thousands and thousands have lost their homes and their livelihoods. There was unanimous consent that we shouldn’t talk to Hamas and I think we should always talk to our adversaries and I think that it was a very disappointing hearing.”
Congressman Gary L. Ackerman (D-NY.) expressed his concerns about the U.S. getting involved and said, “Over the past six years there have been many plans and many envoys. And contrary to popular opinion, there hasn’t been a deficit of attention, merely a deficit of performance. Commitments made to the United States, or between the parties, have often been honored only in the breach. The timing was never right. What was promised was not delivered. There was always a provocation, an incident, an upcoming election, a crisis, an attack. And so it is again today.”
President Jimmy Carter and his new book “We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land, A Plan that Will Work” (Simon & Schuster) discusses what needs to be done and how Hamas can be brought into the process. He recently visited the area and the Carter Center has a office in Ramallah. He is hopeful with the Obama administration and discusses the steps that need to take place. He also talks about his very first job as well as Ellen Ratner’s cousin, President Carter’s Ambassador to Austria who predicted the problems that now exist.
According to a poll conducted by Neil Newhouse, partner and co-founder of Public Opinion Strategies, the majority of Americans blame Hamas leaders for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza (0:32)
During the last decade, the U.S.-Iran relationship has been a great disappointment to the Iranians, according to Geneive Abdo, former Guardian correspondent in Iran and a current Fellow member of The Century Foundation, which hosted a panelist discussion on the “Escalating Pressures on Iran”. “For 30 years U.S. administrations have sanctioned Iran, isolated Iran, condemned Iran…,” said Abdo.
The panel focused on issues on how to develop a better approach involving issues with Iran, which includes nuclear programs and Iranian regime shifting. According to Abdo, Hezbollah’s and Hamas’s influence are growing stronger in the Middle-East region, which indicate that United States policies are failing in that area, a reason for the United States to change how to “talk” with Iran. Abdo highlighted that U.S. will be unable to achieve its objectives in Iraq and Afghanistan without co-operation from Iran.
Samuel Gardiner, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel and author of the book Dangerous and Getting more Dangerous: The Delicate Situation between the United States and Iran, stated that Iran most likely does not want nuclear powers to aim at the United States nor potential neighboring countries, but simply to protect their own national security interests. “The Iranian regime is not suicidal,” said Gardiner.
The panel agreed that when speaking of nuclear weapons, the United States cannot exclude military action from the agenda. According to Gardiner, unofficially, it seems like U.S. current foreign policy on Iran is centered around overthrowing the Iranian government. “Yes, we can strike the nuclear facilities and yes, we can do serious damage, the problem is that we will have to deal with the response,” Gardiner said. “How do we deal with the response?”.
Gardiner said that those who pose a threat, when speaking on how to approach the Iran issue is not President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad anymore, but the supreme leaders and spiritual leaders in Iran.
According to Hillary Mann Leverett, (CEO of Stratega (Strategic Energy and Global Analysis) and former Director of Iran and Persian Gulf Affairs National Security Council, both sides need to compromise if they are to succeed in developing a comprehensive approach to their policies. Leverett highlighted that reserving Iran’s security interests is an important point for them to be able to succeed with a relationship involving the United States. She also noted that it is going to be difficult, for the United States to take regime change off the table.
Briefer: Tony Fratto,
President’s Schedule:
At 9.45 am, President Bush is briefed on the Midwest flooding situations. At 10:20 am, the President meets with the Former Commander of the International Security Assistance Force in the Oval Office of the White House. This afternoon, President Bush will make remarks in honor of Black Music Month.
Deputy White House Press Secretary Tony Fratto will brief the press at 12.30 pm today. (more…)
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says that President Abbas is the elected leader of all Palestinians and that Hamas’s views peace compromises as tactics to prepare for war. (0:51)
Emphatic US support for the State of Israel was reiterated by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference. Secretary Rice declared that the United States’ special relationship with Israel stems from a mutual appreciation of ideals like a free press, democracy, and tolerance, saying that conspiracy arguments concerning the US, Israel, and AIPAC are entirely inaccurate. Rice firmly said that Israel has no better friend than the United States.
Though she admitted it to be an ambitious goal, Rice said the she hopes agreements reached at the peace summit held in Annapolis, Md. will lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state by the end of the year. For this to occur, Rice said that Hamas must relinquish its fundamentalist actions while the US and Israel support the growing number of Palestinians that, according to Rice, are acting in the true interests of the Palestinian people. Rice added that a sovereign, peaceful Palestine is in the policy interests of both the United States and Israel.
Rice spoke at length about the need to engage in productive diplomacy , a gathering with means and incentives, with Iran. Rice restated the Bush administration’s stance that no effective diplomacy can take place until Iran disbands its nuclear research program. Rice said a state that denies the Holocaust and sponsors fundamentalist organizations cannot have access to a nuclear arsenal. Rice said she would be willing to meet with Iranian officials, including her Iranian counterpart, if this occured and questioned Tehran’s resistance to act.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) preceeded Secretary Rice’s statements. Sen. McConnell said that Iran must cut its ties with “murderous non-state actors” if it wants to be respected within the international community. Eli Amir spoke via satellite from Jerusalem about his experience as a Jewish refugee from Baghdad and urged AIPAC to consider in greater detail the experience of Jewish refugees from Arab countries. Amir said that after Israel’s independence, nearly the same number of Palestinians left Israel for Arab countries as the number of Jews who came to Israel from Arab countries, adding that both sides of refugee crises must be considered
