Scholars, advocates, and activists seeking to make the U.S. a more responsible global partner.
Congress

What Happens After Bush Vetoes the Iraq Spending Bill?

by | Apr 26, 2007

The showdown over Iraq that’s been brewing since the November elections will finally come to a head this week as Congress sends a war-spending bill to President Bush. Though the bill authorizes $100 billion for the war, Bush has rejected its October deadline for beginning the withdrawal of combat troops, with the goal of bringing combat troops home by April 2008, and has promised to use his veto—his second-ever use of this power—to kill it.

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Rep. DeFazio: Don’t Attack Iran

by , | Apr 2, 2007

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) has been in Congress since 1986. In April 2006, he wrote a letter to President Bush to remind him that he must seek authorization from Congress before launching any preemptive attacks against Iran. He also introduced Resolution 391 to the same effect as well as a similar amendment to this year’s Defense Authorization Act (which was voted down). One year later, rumors of an upcoming U.S. military assault on Iran still abound, the latest from Russian intelligence that predicts a Good Friday attack. Here Rep. DeFazio talks of the congressional strategy to prevent a war with Iran.

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Going Green

by , | Mar 13, 2007

Elected officials far and near are doing it. The European Union is doing it. U.S. governors are doing it. Even U.S. mayors are doing it. France’s Jacques Chirac calls it “revolutionary,” and California’s Arnold Schwarzenegger says “the time to act is now.” Even Wal-Mart is getting off the dime.

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Moving the Chains: Congress and the War in Iraq

by , | Mar 7, 2007

Throughout most of the past four years, Republicans imposed a moratorium on substantive debate that caused the vaulted chambers of Capitol Hill to function as little more than an echo chamber for the Administration’s Iraq policy. Democrats, cowed by fears of being portrayed as undercutting the troops, were largely silent. The few Democratic initiatives seeking to limit or otherwise interfere with President Bush’s dreams of unending war were routinely silenced and reconstruction oversight languished.

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Round-The-Clock Voting

by , | Feb 5, 2007

The American electorate spoke out in no uncertain terms, saying that they do not want permanent war. Nor will they accept the Bush administration’s mantra of terrorism that has cavalierly torn at the very fabric of the Bill of Rights and the rule of law.

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Elections Offer Hope for a Change in Course in Iraq

by , | Nov 8, 2006

Back on February 15, 2003 millions of people across the globe made headlines as they protested against the impending Iraq War. While that mass mobilization failed to stave off that unpopular and tragic war, it’s hard to believe that President George W. Bush will miss the message voters delivered on Election Day–it’s time to change course in Iraq.

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Congress Approves Flawed Oman Trade Pact

by , | Jul 27, 2006

One of the sub-plots in last year’s critically acclaimed film Syriana tells the story of two young Pakistani “guest workers” in an unnamed Persian Gulf nation who, after years of resentment over miserable living conditions, are taken in by a radical cleric and recruited to be suicide bombers. The film is an all too accurate portrayal of the exploitation of “guest workers” in many Gulf countries, and how these conditions can cause instability.

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Trading on Terror to Profit a Few

by | Jul 13, 2006

Even as Congress has finally begun a serious debate about whether U.S. troops should be withdrawn from Iraq, another part of President Bush’s "war on terror" is advancing with far less public fanfare. Last month, the Senate Finance Committee approved the implementation of the U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement and cleared the way for its consideration by Congress.

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