[Peace-discuss] Just Foreign Policy News, November 17, 2006

[Robert Naiman]

Just Foreign Policy News
November 17, 2006

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Summary:
U.S./Top News
The Bush administration is preparing its largest spending request yet
for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a proposal that could make the
conflict the most expensive since World War II, USA Today reports. The
Pentagon is considering $127 billion to $160 billion in requests from
the armed services for the 2007 fiscal year, lawmakers said.

Sen. McCain suggested this week that the US needs thousands more
troops in Iraq, and members of the Iraq Study Group have discussed
similar ideas, the Washington Post reports. But military officials and
defense experts said significantly escalating the number of U.S.
combat troops in Iraq is implausible because it would severely strain
the military, would be unsustainable for more than a few months and
would offer no discernable long-term benefit.

The Bush Administration's "coalition of the willing" in Iraq is
becoming an increasingly exclusive club, the Washington Times reports.
23 countries remain in the U.S.-led coalition and the UN' mission
serving in and around Iraq, down from a high of 42 that joined the US
in the invasion or the postwar occupation of Iraq. More than half of
those contributors have fewer than 150 troops, engineers or military
trainers in the Iraq theater.

The Iraqi government ordered the arrest of the country's most
influential Sunni cleric for allegedly inciting violence and
supporting terrorism, a move that could inflame sectarian tensions,
the Washington Post reports. The Post article notes that an Iraqi
government spokesman claimed to have proof that Harith al-Dhari was
involved in terrorism but did not provide any.

In Congressional testimony, US officials put the number of Al-Qaeda
and foreign terrorist fighters in Iraq at about 1,300, and the number
of Iraqi insurgents at 20,000 to 30,000, the Washington Post reports.
This would put the proportion of Al-Qaeda and foreign fighters between
4-6%.

The Senate gave overwhelming approval late Thursday to President
Bush's deal for nuclear cooperation with India, the New York Times
reports. Critics argued the pact would encourage North Korea and Iran
to press ahead with nuclear weapons programs despite international
complaints and threats.

A new study has found that the U.S. military called no witnesses,
withheld evidence from detainees and usually reached a decision within
a day as it determined hundreds of men detained at Guantanamo were
"enemy combatants," AP reports.

A UCLA student who was shocked by a campus police officer's Taser gun
thought he was being singled out because of his Middle Eastern
appearance, his lawyer said. The lawyer said he plans to file a
federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of the U.S.-born student, who
is of Iranian descent, AP reports.

Iran
Parting ways with Israel, the Bush administration is moving to find a
way to open a dialogue with Iran to help it out of the mess in Iraq,
writes James Klurfeld for Newsday.

It would certainly help in Iraq if the White House opened a dialogue
with Syria and Iran, if it set the stage for a regional conference
with the intent of pooling resources and putting immense pressure on
the players in Baghdad, writes the Akron Beacon Journal in an
editorial.

Iraq
A US soldier who admitted that he and a group of other soldiers raped
an Iraqi girl and killed her and her family was sentenced to 90 years
in prison, with the possibility of parole in 20 years, the Washington
Post reports. The plea agreement reflects willingness to testify
against other soldiers. Another soldier pleaded guilty to aggravated
assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice in the death of an Iraqi
man. He was sentenced to 21 months in prison.

Two former employees of an American private military contractor
claimed in court they saw their supervisor deliberately shoot at Iraqi
civilians, and that the firm fired them for reporting the incidents,
the New York Times reports.

Afghanistan
The Air Force has conducted more than 2,000 airstrikes in Afghanistan
over the past six months, a sharp increase in bombing, the New York
Times reports.

Sudan
Sudan agreed to allow a joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force into
the Darfur region, reversing its longstanding refusal to let UN troops
in, the New York Times reports.

Venezuela
As Venezuelans prepare to vote December 3, expectations are that
President Chávez will easily win re-election, thanks to his wide base
of support among the country's poor majority and gains in alleviating
poverty, writes Chesa Boudin in the Nation.

Contents:
U.S./Top News
1) Military May Ask $127B For Wars
Richard Wolf, USA Today, 11/16/2006 11:17 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-11-16-iraq-costs_x.htm
The Bush administration is preparing its largest spending request yet
for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a proposal that could make the
conflict the most expensive since World War II. The Pentagon is
considering $127 billion to $160 billion in requests from the armed
services for the 2007 fiscal year, which began last month, several
lawmakers and congressional staff members said. That's on top of $70
billion already approved for 2007.

Since 2001, Congress has approved $502 billion for the war on terror,
roughly two-thirds for Iraq. The latest request, due to reach the
incoming Democratic-controlled Congress next spring, would make the
war on terror more expensive than the Vietnam War.

Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., who will chair the Senate Budget Committee
next year, said the amount under consideration is "$127 billion and
rising." He said the cost "is going to increasingly become an issue"
because it could prevent Congress from addressing domestic priorities,
such as expanding Medicare prescription drug coverage. Rep. Jim
Cooper, D-Tenn., who put the expected request at $160 billion, said
such a sizable increase still "won't solve the problem" in Iraq.

The new request being considered for the war on terror would be about
one-fourth what the government spends annually on Social Security —
and 10 times what it spends on its space program. Before the Iraq war
began in 2003, the Bush administration estimated its cost at $50
billion to $60 billion, though White House economic adviser Lawrence
Lindsey had suggested in 2002 that it could cost as much as $200
billion.

Growing opposition to the war contributed to Democrats' takeover of
the House and Senate in this month's elections. Pennsylvania Rep. John
Murtha, an early critic of the war who lost his bid Thursday to be the
House Democratic leader, vowed to use his clout as chairman of the
House panel that reviews the Pentagon budget "to get these troops out
of Iraq and get back on track and quit spending $8 billion a month."

2) Debate Grows Over Beefing Up U.S. Force In Iraq
Military Leaders Oppose McCain's Push for Thousands of Additional Troops
Josh White, Washington Post, Friday, November 17, 2006; A17
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/16/AR2006111601647.html
The debate about how to proceed in Iraq, which in the past few months
has focused on withdrawing U.S. troops, now includes serious
discussion about adding more forces to the fight. Sen. John McCain
(R-Ariz.) repeatedly suggested this week that the US needs thousands
more troops in Iraq, and members of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group
have discussed similar ideas as they prepare a much-anticipated policy
recommendation. Members of Congress raised the concept on Wednesday in
hearings with the region's top U.S. military commander.

In a speech last night to Republicans, McCain, who is considering a
presidential bid in 2008, reiterated his desire for more troops to
solve a "dire" situation. "Without additional combat forces, we will
not win this war," McCain said, describing inadequate U.S. troop
numbers to clear insurgent strongholds, stem sectarian violence and
train Iraqi security forces. "We need to do all these things if we are
to succeed. And we will need more troops to do them."

Military officials and defense experts, however, said yesterday that
significantly escalating the number of U.S. combat troops in Iraq is
largely implausible because it would severely strain the military,
would be unsustainable for more than a few months and would offer no
discernable long-term benefit.

On Wednesday, Gen. John P. Abizaid, who leads the U.S. Central
Command, testified on Capitol Hill that he believes sending in a large
contingent of infantry troops would be a mistake, in part because it
could dissuade Iraqi troops from taking the lead in security
operations. Abizaid said he plans over coming months to introduce a
more robust training effort -- involving additional U.S. trainers and
advisers to help boost the numbers and capabilities of Iraqi forces --
so Iraq can defend its homeland and thus transition toward a U.S.
exit. "It's easy for the Iraqis to rely upon us to do this work,"
Abizaid said. "I believe that more American forces prevent the Iraqis
from doing more, from taking more responsibility for their own
future."

About 140,000 U.S. troops are in Iraq, many stationed in the areas
around Baghdad where violence has been most severe. Military officials
said yesterday that a boost of 20,000 infantry troops -- five or six
brigades -- would do little to change the nature of the insurgency or
the sectarian strife and that commanders are not considering such a
move.

3) Coalition Forces Are Dwindling As U.S. Mulls Next Move In Iraq
David R. Sands, Washington Times, November 17, 2006
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20061116-111331-1934r.htm

Iraq's coalition of the willing is becoming an increasingly exclusive club.

As U.S. generals and lawmakers debated this week whether to cut, raise
or hold steady the 141,000-strong U.S. troop contingent in Iraq, the
coalition of foreign countries willing to deploy their forces in Iraq
has shrunk steadily -- and soon could shrink even more.

Twenty-three countries remain in the U.S.-led coalition and the UN'
mission serving in and around Iraq, down from a high of 42 that joined
the US in the invasion or the postwar occupation of Iraq. More than
half of those contributors have fewer than 150 troops, engineers or
military trainers in the Iraq theater.

Like President Bush, many leaders of the contributing countries are
resisting intense domestic political pressures to bring the troops
home, especially as the casualty levels rise and the problems of the
embattled Iraqi government mount.

4) Shiite-Led Iraqi Ministry Seeks Arrest Of Top Sunni Cleric
Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post, Friday, November 17, 2006; A16
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/16/AR2006111601686.html
The Iraqi government on Thursday ordered the arrest of the country's
most influential Sunni cleric for allegedly inciting violence and
supporting terrorism, a move by the Shiite-led administration that
could inflame the sectarian tensions already disfiguring the capital
and other parts of Iraq.

Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani declared on state television late
Thursday that an arrest warrant had been issued for Harith al-Dhari,
leader of the Association of Muslim Scholars, one of the most
outspoken defenders of Iraq's minority Sunni Arabs after the U.S.-led
invasion. "We have proof that he is involved in terrorism," said Brig.
Abdul Karim Khalaf, an Interior Ministry spokesman, without
elaborating.

In recent weeks, Dhari had angered Shiite leaders by declaring on
al-Arabiya television that the trial of ousted president Saddam
Hussein was illegitimate, mocking efforts at national reconciliation
and expressing support for al-Qaeda. He also said Shiite militias
belonging to political parties had infiltrated "the majority of the
security apparatuses at the Interior Ministry."

Dhari, a vocal critic of the Shiite-led government and its American
backers, travels frequently outside Iraq and could not be reached for
comment Thursday. "The warrant that was issued is evidence that this
government has lost its balance and that it is announcing its
bankruptcy," Mohamad Bashar al-Faidy, a spokesman for the Association
of Muslim Scholars, which represents Iraq's Sunni clergy, told
al-Jazeera television Thursday night. He added that Dhari was not
surprised by the warrant because he has been targeted before by the
government.

5) Violence in Iraq Called Increasingly Complex
Walter Pincus, Washington Post, Friday, November 17, 2006; A19
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/16/AR2006111601509.html
Attacks in Iraq reached a high of approximately 180 a day last month,
reflecting an increasingly complicated conflict that includes
sectarian clashes of Sunni and Shiite militias on top of continuing
strikes by insurgents, criminal gangs and al-Qaeda terrorists,
according to the directors of the CIA and the Defense Intelligence
Agency. "No single narrative is sufficient to explain all the violence
we see in Iraq today," Gen. Michael Hayden, the CIA director, told the
Senate Armed Services Committee Wednesday.

Attempting to describe the enemy, Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, the DIA
director, listed "Iraqi nationalists, ex-Baathists, former military,
angry Sunni, Jihadists, foreign fighters and al-Qaeda," who create an
"overlapping, complex and multi-polar Sunni insurgent and terrorist
environment." He added that "Shia militias and Shia militants, some
Kurdish pesh merga, and extensive criminal activity further contribute
to violence, instability and insecurity."

In unusually harsh terms, the two intelligence directors spelled out
how quickly the violence in Iraq has escalated this year, from about
70 attacks a day in January to about 100 a day in May and then to last
month's figure. "Violence in Iraq continues to increase in scope,
complexity, and lethality" despite operations by the Iraqi government
and the U.S.-led coalition, Maples said. He described "an atmosphere
of fear and hardening sectarianism which is empowering militias and
vigilante groups, hastening middle-class exodus, and shaking
confidence in government and security forces."

"The longer this goes on, the less controlled the violence is, the
more the violence devolves down to the neighborhood level," Hayden
added. "The center disappears, and normal people acting not
irrationally end up acting like extremists."

Although the Bush administration continues to emphasize the role of
al-Qaeda in Iraq, Maples described the current situation as "mostly an
intra-Arab struggle to determine how power and authority will be
distributed," with or without the U.S. presence. Al-Qaeda and foreign
terrorist numbers were put at roughly 1,300, while Hayden, pressed by
senators, estimated the number of insurgents in the "low tens of
thousands." Maples estimated the number of Iraqi insurgents, including
militias, at 20,000 to 30,000, and said there are many more who supply
support.

6) Nuclear Deal With India Wins Senate Backing
Thom Shanker, New York Times, November 17, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/17/washington/17nuke.html
The Senate gave overwhelming approval late Thursday to President
Bush's deal for nuclear cooperation with India, a vote expressing that
a goal of nurturing India as an ally outweighed concerns over the
risks of spreading nuclear skills and bomb-making materials. By a vote
of 85 to 12, senators agreed to a program that would allow the US to
send nuclear fuel and technology to India, which has refused to sign
the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The agreement, negotiated by President Bush and Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh of India in March, calls for the US to end a long
moratorium on sales of nuclear fuel and reactor components. For its
part, India would divide its reactor facilities into civilian and
military nuclear programs, with civilian facilities open to
international inspections.

Critics have been unwavering in arguing that the pact would rally
nations like North Korea and Iran to press ahead with nuclear weapons
programs despite international complaints and threats. Opponents of
the measure also warned that the deal would allow India to build more
bombs with its limited stockpile of radioactive material, and could
spur a regional nuclear arms race with Pakistan and China.

7) Guantanamo hearings 'shams,' lawyers find
Associated Press, November 17, 2006
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-gitmo17nov17,1,12993.story
The U.S. military called no witnesses, withheld evidence from
detainees and usually reached a decision within a day as it determined
that hundreds of men detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were "enemy
combatants," a study to be released today has found.

The analysis of transcripts and records by two lawyers for Guantanamo
detainees, aided by more than two dozen law students at Seton Hall
University here, found that hearings that determined whether a
prisoner should remain in custody gave the accused little opportunity
to contest allegations against him. "These were not hearings. These
were shams," said Mark Denbeaux, an attorney and Seton Hall law
professor who along with his son, Joshua, wrote the report.

Their report, based on an analysis of records of military hearings of
393 detainees, comes as the U.S. government seeks to severely restrict
detainee access to civilian courts, arguing that the Combatant Status
Review Tribunals should be their main legal recourse.

8) Tasered Student Claims Racial Profiling
Associated Press, Friday, November 17, 2006; 9:15 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/17/AR2006111700420.html
A student who was shocked by a campus police officer's Taser gun after
he refused to show ID at a UCLA library thought he was being singled
out by the officer because of his Middle Eastern appearance, his
lawyer said. Attorney Stephen Yagman said he plans to file a federal
civil rights lawsuit on behalf of the U.S.-born student, Mostafa
Tabatabainejad.

Tabatabainejad, 23, was shocked Tuesday night after arguing with a
campus police officer who was conducting a routine check of student
IDs at the University of California, Los Angeles Powell Library
computer lab. Yagman said his client declined to show his school ID
because he thought he was being targeted for his appearance. His
family is of Iranian descent.

Police have said Tabatabainejad encouraged others at the library to
join his resistance, and when a crowd gathered, the officer used the
stun gun on him. Yagman disputed that, saying Tabatabainejad started
yelling to draw attention after the police officer pulled out the
Taser.

Tabatabainejad was arrested for resisting and obstructing a police
officer and later released on his own recognizance. The incident,
recorded on another student's camera phone, showed Tabatabainejad
screaming while on the floor of the computer lab. It was the third
time in a month in which police behavior in the city was criticized
after amateur video surfaced.

UCLA's interim chancellor, Norman Abrams, urged the public to withhold
judgment while the campus police department investigates. Several
civil rights organizations, including Amnesty International and the
Council on American-Islamic Relations, have called for an independent
review.

Iran
9) On Iran, U.S. May Have To Differ With Israel
James Klurfeld, Newsday, November 17, 2006
http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-opklu174978899nov17,0,1797056.column
For the past six years there has not even been a sliver of light
between the positions of the US and Israel. It's safe to say that no
administration has been as supportive of Israel's policies as the
administration of President Bush. That's about to change.

Just as Israel has declared that Iran - with President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad calling for its destruction - is a modern version of
Hitler, the Bush administration is moving to find a way to open a
dialogue with Tehran to help it out of the mess in Iraq.

Talking with Iran, even as it makes clear that it wants to become a
nuclear power, is almost certainly to be one of the key
recommendations of the Iraq Study Group next month.

10) Waiting for Baker
At last, an honest debate emerges about the war in Iraq. What can be
salvaged from this colossal misadventure?
Akron Beacon Journal, Fri, Nov. 17, 2006
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/editorial/16035517.htm
The American death toll in Iraq will soon reach 2,900, and then 3,000,
most likely, the total exceeding the 2,972 confirmed and reported dead
in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. The comparison is significant.
With all their warnings about mushroom clouds and weapons of mass
destruction, President Bush and his surrogates fueled the impression
that the toppling of Saddam Hussein and the rebuilding of Iraq would
save American lives. They did not suggest anything close to a mission
requiring a sacrifice equivalent to the toll of that ghastly day.

The comparison provides one measure of how badly things have proceeded
in Iraq, those in charge committing mammoth errors in judgment,
displaying arrogance, pushing dreams and denying reality. Of late, the
goal has been a more stable Baghdad. The thinking has been: Secure the
capital, and the country will follow. That sounds reasonable.
Additional American troops moved into the city. It followed that the
death toll would climb with more troops exposed to combat, and October
proved one of the deadliest months of the war.

What did the sacrifice yield?

Listen to the generals, active and retired, on the scene or in the
studio, and the disappointment is plain, the capital and the country
riddled with violence, verging on civil war. On Tuesday, gunmen
dressed in Iraqi police commando uniforms and driving vehicles with
Interior Ministry markings staged a brazen mass kidnapping in Baghdad.
The moment captured the mounting disorder, echoing such milestones as
the February bombing of the Askariyah mosque and the attack on the
U.N. compound even earlier, all of it revealing Iraqi and American
authorities unable to assert control, American troops still deployed
in insufficient numbers.
…
For the moment, the pertinent question is: If not a withdrawal, then what?

That is the agenda of the Iraq Study Group led by James Baker, the
former secretary of state and long a confidant of the president's
family. Baker has partially shown his hand. You can bet the group will
rightly advise outreach to neighboring countries and the larger
international community.

Of course, President Bush failed to build sufficient international
support at the very start, and that burden has harmed the mission at
every turn. In this instance, it makes sense with Iraq breaking apart
to remind countries about their stake in rebuilding the shattered
country, if not as a beacon of democracy, then as a place of order,
law, free speech and functioning institutions, economic, social and
political.

Will countries respond? It would certainly help if the White House
opened a dialogue with Syria and Iran, if it set the stage for a
regional conference with the intent of pooling resources and putting
immense pressure on the players in Baghdad.

Iraq
11) Soldier Gets 90 Years in Rape, Killing of Iraqi Girl
Josh White, Washington Post, Friday, November 17, 2006; A18
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/16/AR2006111601685.html
An Army specialist who admitted that he and a group of other U.S.
soldiers raped a 14-year-old girl and killed her and her family in an
Iraqi village was sentenced to 90 years in prison yesterday, by far
the longest sentence for a U.S. soldier in connection with the death
of an Iraqi civilian since the war began in 2003.

Spec. James P. Barker, 23, could be eligible for parole in 20 years,
as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors that spares him the
possibility of a death sentence. Barker has indicated he will testify
against other soldiers in the case, some of whom face the death
penalty.

Barker yesterday became one of 16 U.S. troops sentenced to prison time
for the deaths of Iraqi civilians during the war, and he received a
sentence of more than three times the length of the next-longest
sentence in any case that has concluded. Two soldiers are serving
25-year sentences in unrelated homicide cases.

Also yesterday, Marine Lance Cpl. Tyler A. Jackson pleaded guilty to
aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice in the death of
an Iraqi man near Hamdaniyah. As part of a deal, he was sentenced to
21 months in prison.

12) Contractor's Boss In Iraq Shot At Civilians, Workers' Suit Says
C. J. Chivers, New York Times, November 17, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/17/world/middleeast/17contractors.html
Two former employees of an American private military contracting firm
have claimed in a Virginia court that they saw their supervisor
deliberately shoot at Iraqi vehicles and civilians this summer, and
that the firm fired them for reporting the incidents.

The allegations, made in a lawsuit filed in Fairfax County Circuit
Court, accuse Triple Canopy, one of the largest private military
contractors to work with the US in Iraq, of retaliating against the
men for reporting that the supervisor had committed violent felonies,
and perhaps murder, on the job.

It also claims that Triple Canopy's management blacklisted the men in
the private military contracting industry, rendering them unemployable
in the lucrative trade of providing private security in Iraq.

The suit was filed in late July. A motion by Triple Canopy to dismiss
the suit in full was rejected by the judge last month, and on Thursday
the court set a trial date for the case for next summer.

Afghanistan
13) U.S. Airstrikes Climb Sharply In Afghanistan
David S. Cloud, New York Times, November 17, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/17/world/asia/17bomber.html
The Air Force has conducted more than 2,000 airstrikes in Afghanistan
over the past six months, a sharp increase in bombing that reflects
the growing demand for American air cover since NATO has assumed a
larger ground combat role, Air Force officials said.

The intensifying air campaign has focused on southern Afghanistan,
where NATO units, primarily from Britain, Canada and the Netherlands,
as well as American Special Forces have been engaging in the heaviest
and most frequent ground combat with Taliban rebels since the invasion
five years ago.

The NATO forces are mostly operating without heavy armor or artillery
support, and as Taliban resistance has continued, more air support has
been used to compensate for the lightness of the units, Air Force
officials said. Most of the strikes have come during "close air
support" missions, where the bombers patrol the area and respond to
calls from ground units in combat rather than performing planned
strikes.

Sudan
14) Sudan Says It Will Accept U.N.-African Peace Force in Darfur
Robert F. Worth, New York Times, November 17, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/17/world/africa/17darfur.html
The Sudanese government on Thursday agreed in principle to allow a
joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force into the war-stricken Darfur
region, reversing its longstanding refusal to let UN troops in.

The agreement, reached after a day of talks with UN officials in Addis
Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, raised hopes for a more effective
peacekeeping effort in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have
been killed in brutal ethnic and tribal warfare since 2003. A small
African Union peacekeeping force has been unable to quell the
violence.

It is not clear how soon the new force can enter Darfur. Two major
issues must still be worked out before the agreement becomes final:
the number of troops, and how the commander will be selected.

A document issued by the parties in the talks — members of the
Security Council, the Arab League, the African Union and a number of
African leaders — specified a force of 17,000 soldiers and 3,000
police officers. The issues will be taken up at a meeting scheduled
for next Friday in Brazzaville, Congo Republic.

Venezuela
15)  Letter From Venezuela: The Land of Chavismo
Chesa Boudin, The Nation, November 16, 2006 (December 4, 2006 issue)
http://www.thenation.com/docprem.mhtml?i=20061204&s=boudin
As Venezuelans prepare to go to the polls December 3, expectations are
that President Hugo Chávez will easily win re-election, thanks to his
wide base of support among the country's poor and marginalized
majority. In this election, however, people will be voting not just on
hopes and expectations but rather on the proven track record of
Chávez's "Bolivarian Revolution" and its gains in alleviating poverty.

An innovative series of social programs known as misiones, or
missions--set up to parallel ineffective and often exclusionary
government services, and largely funded through oil sales, which
account for 47 percent of government revenue and 80 percent of
exports--has delivered concrete benefits to Venezuela's poor. As one
example, roughly 3 million Venezuelans have enrolled in one of the
four free educational missions--basic adult literacy, primary school,
high school equivalency and university--since the programs began in
2003. Recently, in one adult literacy class, the pride of the students
was palpable as one after another went to the chalkboard to
transcribe--albeit with a few errors--short sentences that their
facilitator read aloud. One woman in her late 60s told me after class,
"This is the first time in my life when Venezuela has had a government
dedicated to inclusion, not exclusion."

--
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org

Just Foreign Policy is a membership organization devoted to reforming
U.S. foreign policy so it reflects the values and interests of the
majority of Americans.