Speech by Rep.
Jim Leach (R-Iowa), June 9, 2006
Mr. LEACH.
Mr. Chairman, at issue in this case are Colombia priorities, but in
a different sense than is usually assumed. The priority debate today
is not about whether stemming the drug trade is appropriate, but the
methodology of going about it.
Quasi-military approaches fit war scenarios. Civil war is more problematic;
criminal activities even more so. My concern is that when America becomes
intertwined in internal conflicts, we change the nature of the ongoing
struggle, as well as the motivation of various combatants. We become
implicitly accountable for a panoply of policies of any side we back
and, accordingly, answerable to the people for that side's allegiance
or lack thereof to social fairness and sometimes the rule of law itself.
In this context, wouldn't it be better to limit our military involvement
in this struggling, divided country and focus efforts on replenishing
the Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance program? This assistance
program allows the President to respond quickly to urgent, often unexpected,
crises throughout the world. For instance, it is this program that the
President tapped last year to provide assistance to the victims of the
Pakistani earthquake.
Mr. Chairman, I support this amendment and I respect very much the gentleman
from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for enlightened leadership on a whole
host of issues. But I don't support the amendment out of a conviction
it is an answer to a real dilemma between both the Colombian and American
people, but out of a belief that a military emphasis of this kind carries
many counterproductive consequences.
There is no track record that this program has been particularly helpful,
and some indications that the results have been disadvantageous to the
United States. So I would argue that there are better uses for these
very scarce resources.
And I would suggest again that when we think about realism in world
affairs, the test is effectiveness. Here the effectiveness that the
United States has exhibited in compassion for refugees is far more apparent
than the tests that might be applied to this particular program based
on any past record.
As of June
13, 2006 this page was also available at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/R?r109:FLD001:H53648
