Congress Begins Election Year Session with Budget Posturing, But Some Restraint on Middle East Issues
By Shirl McArthur
As is usually the case, political posturing over budget priorities dominated the opening weeks of this election-year congressional session. However, although House International Relations Committee (HIRC) Chairman Benjamin Gilman (R-NY) apparently has concluded that it would be irresponsible to further rock the leaking boat of the Middle East peace negotiations, there were some developments regarding U.S. policy toward Iraq.
In late November, HIRC member Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and his international relations staff member, Al Santoli, visited Kuwait for three days to get a first-hand view of Kuwait’s security situation and the situation in Iraq as viewed from Kuwait. They saw a Kuwait that appears to be normal and stable. Beneath the surface, however, there lurks the fear of a renewed threat from Saddam Hussain’s Iraq.
Sadly, the congressional visitors concluded there is no evidence that Iraq’s Republican Guard and Hussain’s personal security apparatus have been appreciably weakened. Nor is there much likelihood of effective internal opposition or resistance under the current circumstances. In short, the administration’s Iraq policy is a failure, and there is little chance that it will change during President Bill Clinton’s last year in office.
Santoli said it is clear that any new administration will have to completely rethink America’s Iraq policy and come up with a new, comprehensive policy for dealing with Iraq, and Gilman wants to assure that any new policy has congressional input. The best way to assure this is to begin working with the new transition team soon after a new president is elected, and Gilman wants to make sure that his committee is ready with its recommendations by then.
-from The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs April 2000
