ENGLISH FOR SENATE POSITION PAPER ON:

Foreign Policy

The Bush Administration's callous disregard for international treaties and obligations, especially those related to the treatment of captives is appalling and the consequences of the resulting human rights abuses have severely tarnished reputation of the United States. The deliberately disrespectful past treatment of the United Nations is now bearing its bitter harvest, with our Allies in the Middle East slowly withdrawing their forces and distancing themselves from further involvement.  Other countries elsewhere are slowly forging new trade and other commercial relationships that deliberately exclude the United States, to its future detriment. The Bush Administration has lost all credibility in the Middle East to influence events there, with none of the countries in the region willing to aid the United States as it tries to extricate itself from the intractable morass it now is trapped in.   Without neighboring countries' cooperation, the exit strategy from Iraq and Afghanistan is bound to fail with the United States facing an immenent foreign policy disaster worse than that from the prolonged Vietnam War (also please read the Middle East Issue paper).

In the short term, not much can be done to change this horrible situation as long as Bush is President and the Republicans maintain control of the Congress.  Only by continually speaking out, calling the attention of the public to unwise Administration policies and actions,  and working with disaffected Republican members can the Democrats in Congress hope to ameliorate the worst aspects of Bush's foreign policy.  The rest of the world constantly needs to know that many Americans do not support the disastrous and self-isolating policies of the current Administration and that there are members of Congress that are still trying to change them.

In the longer term, the following suggestions for changes in U. S. foreign policy have been made in the essay "Why it's Over for America" by Noam Chomsky from the book titled FAILED STATES published by Hamish Hamilton, Independent Books (UK 0870-079-8897).   All of these proposals are anathema to the neocon ideologues whom have created the diplomatic disasters that comprise the Bush Administration's foreign policy.  Hopefully, my fellow Democrats will adopt and support their implementation if the Democrats ever regain control of the Congress and the White House.  
1) accept the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court and the World Court; 
2) sign and carry forward the Kyoto protocols; 
3) let the UN take the lead in international crises; 
4) rely on diplomatic and economic measures rather than military ones in confronting terror; 
5) keep to the traditional interpretation of the UN Charter; 
6) give up the Security Council veto and have "a decent respect for the opinion of mankind,
   as the Declaration of Independence advises, even if power centres disagree;
7) cut back sharply on military spending and sharply increase social spending.
Regarding item #6, the United States giving up the Security Council veto, all of four the other Security Council Council members with the veto would have to do the same, which is highly improbable.  What might be a viable United Nations reform alternative to the single country veto paralysis problem is to reorganize the Security Council with an Executive Committee consisting of the five present members possessing the veto (U. S., Russia, China, France, and the U. K.) and adding eight new members to the Executive Committee (Germany, Japan, Indonesia, India, Egypt, Nigeria, Mexico, and Brazil).  The Executive Committee would serve as the steering gateway to approve all items brought before the Security Council, with a two thirds (i.e., nine affirmative) vote needed in the Executive Council to approve items forwarded to the Security Council for discussion and final disposition.  All thirteen members of the executive Committee would be the permanent members of the Security Council, which should be expanded to 35 members total, with 23 rotating members drawn from the remainder of the United Nations members. The Veto provision for the five countries now holding it should be eliminated, thereby enabling the United Nations to undertake meaningful and effective action against any nation's improper conduct in the future.
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