Free Republic

“Therefore, for the sake of our diplomatic effort to resolve this crisis, we believe it is vital to restore Iran’s fear that its current nuclear path will trigger the use of force against it by the United States,” the letter signed by Leon Panetta and David Petraeus read. Al Arabiya English reports now that Two former CIA directors and a handful of former senior US officials urged President Joe Biden to “restore Iran’s fear that its current nuclear path will trigger the use of force,” in a letter published Friday. “Diplomacy appears to be moving backward,” the letter read on...

This is just too rich. Seriously. From the insufferable Iran deal… to the appeasement “Russian Reset”… to the Libya fiasco… to the rise of ISIS… to installing the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt… to the explosion of terrorism in Yemen… to civil war in Syria… to the crisis in Ukraine… to the 2010 State Department apology tour (WikiLeaks cables scandal)… to their inability to stop North Korean nuclear ambitions and the rise of China as an influential power… there were/are zero foreign policy successes in eight years of the Obama administration. There was not a single Obama foreign policy initiative that...

The White House and lawmakers on Tuesday refrained from condemning a deadly Israeli attack on Gaza-bound ships carrying humanitarian aid. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs would not go much further than a United Nations Security Council resolution that condemned the loss of life without criticizing Israel’s actions. Gibbs echoed the resolution calling for the U.N. investigation of the incident to be “prompt, impartial, credible and transparent.” At least 10 civilians were killed in the attack, and many were wounded. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was scheduled to visit President Barack Obama at the White House on Tuesday, but he...

Some members of a Hollywood organization are questioning whether to honor Ted Cruz. The Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors this year chose the conservative Senator from Texas as one of its recipients of its annual "American Spirit Award." Another is to go to liberal Calif. governor Jerry Brown. The Caucus, founded three decades ago by Norman Lear, Aaron Spelling and others, has set a meeting Monday to determine whether to stick with its plan to give a Spirit award to Cruz after some of its more liberal members objected to the selection, and some threatened to quit if the...

A bitter Los Angeles-area congressional race between two veteran House Democrats took a strange turn Thursday night when the two candidates nearly got into a physical altercation during a public debate. Democratic Reps. Brad Sherman and Howard Berman are vying to win control of the same district due to California's new primary system, which sends the top two finishers to the runoff regardless of party affiliation. The Los Angeles Times reports 57-year-old Sherman seized the shoulder of 71-year-old Berman during the debate at a local college, yanked him toward his chest and shouted, "You want to get into this?" Berman,...

The Obama administration has quietly forged ahead with its proposal to sell $60 billion worth of fighter jets and attack helicopters to Saudi Arabia unhampered by Congress, despite questions raised in legislative inquiries and in an internal congressional report about the wisdom of the deal. The massive arms deal would be the single largest sale of weapons to a foreign nation in the history of the U.S., outfitting Saudi Arabia with a fully modernized, potent new air force. "Our six-decade-long security relationship with Saudi Arabia is a primary security pillar in the region," Defense Sec. Robert M. Gates and Secretary...

House members seek conditions to prevent arms being used against Israel; 198 representatives voice complaints about Saudi policies. WASHINGTON – A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is demanding more assurances from the Obama administration that a record $60 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia won’t give the kingdom new military capabilities that threaten Israel. In a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, 198 representatives voiced a range of complaints about Saudi policies, and said they “would like to know how these sales will affect Israel’s qualitative military edge.” House members aren’t likely...

Jewish Congressmen: Two Opposing Points of View? by Ari Bussel and Norma Zager Recent events have sparked controversy, even among friends, about the ethics and loyalties of Jewish public officials. Rhetoric aside, the hype remains at the forefront, but our attention must focus on what is actually being done to curtail activities that could destroy the Jewish Homeland. We are at a point in history where action is required. This is the time to identify our true friends. Separating the hype and rhetoric from action seems the real challenge and a cornucopia of answers seems apparent. Of utmost value are...

Iran is the number-one terror-sponsoring nation in the world; it has been killing Americans for years. The country is led to by mad mullahs who see nuclear weapons as a ticket to paradise. Why would one key congressman spend the last year and a half trying to derail plans to stop Iran's nuclear program? Perhaps because he is doing so at the behest of Barack Obama. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has messianic dreams that view nuclear Armageddon as a means to bring about the return of Shia Islam's Hidden Imam and usher in a new age. For years, the Iranian...

The chairmen of the House and Senate foreign relations committees—Representative Howard Berman (D-Calif) and Senator John Kerry (D-Mass), respectively—are demanding the librarians at the Law Library of Congress to suppress a report on the Honduran crisis. The problem with the report is that it concludes that the removal of former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was carried out in accordance with that country’s constitution. “This report directly contradicts the President’s position on this crisis,” Berman pointed out. “It creates an air of confusion regarding US policy on this matter. On matters of foreign policy, this nation must speak with one voice...

WASHINGTON -- The chairmen of the House and Senate foreign relations committees are asking the Law Library of Congress to retract a report on the military-backed coup in Honduras that they charge is flawed and “has contributed to the political crisis that still wracks” the country. The request, by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. and Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., has sparked cries of censorship from Republicans who say the Democrats don't like what the August report said: that the government of Honduras had the authority to remove President Manuel Zelaya from office. Zelaya has been holed up at the Brazilian embassy...

A month ago, the Law Library of Congress reviewed the removal of Manuel Zelaya from his post as President of Honduras, an act that the Obama administration called a “coup” and demanded reversed for its illegality. To the embarrassment of the White House and State Department, the Congressional body determined that Honduras acted lawfully in removing Zelaya for his crimes against their constitution, although they determined that his exile broke Honduran law. Now John Kerry wants the Law Library to retract its findings, apparently trying to rewrite history to hide the facts of the case:

Senior congressional Democrats want a report on the ouster of Honduran president Manuel Zelaya to be retracted. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) made the demand in a letter dated Tuesday to James Billington, the Librarian of Congress. They asked the Law Library of Congress to withdraw and correct the August 2009 report titled “Honduras: Constitutional Issues.” “The report, which has contributed to the political crisis that still wracks Honduras, contains factual errors and is based on a flawed legal analysis that has been refuted by experts from the United States, the Organization of American States, and...

The United States must fix its relationship with Russia partly because it needs a partner in Moscow to help deal with Iran, the chairman of the House of Representatives foreign policy committee said on Wednesday. In an interview with Reuters, Rep. Howard Berman also embraced a priority of his Senate counterpart, Sen. John Kerry, to increase non-military U.S. aid to Pakistan as part of a strategy to help stabilize that country. .... A key goal of Berman's is to beef up U.S. diplomacy and foreign aid, which he said had been eroded and militarized in recent years. The California congressman...

The US should consider making concessions to Russia on the placement of a missile-defense shield in Europe, in order to get Moscow to back "crippling" concessions against Iran if the time comes, a leading US congressman said Thursday. Howard Berman, the powerful Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in an interview that one reason for a limited dialogue with the Iranians to get them to suspend uranium enrichment would be to encourage other countries to "buy into crippling" sanctions if Teheran failed to do so. Berman said the US-Iran talks should be of a set duration, somewhere...

Rep. Howard Berman keeps a big Thermos behind his desk. That way, he never has to ask anyone to fetch coffee for him. The new House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman also picks up his own dry cleaning and drives his own car. It is a self-sufficiency that Berman has carefully nurtured over his 13 terms in Congress. Now that he has ascended to one of the most influential posts on Capitol Hill, succeeding the late Chairman Tom Lantos, he still rejects the trappings of power, and prefers to keep operating as a behind-the-scenes player. He even barred an Associated Press...

Why Is Jimmy Carter So Disastrously Wrong on the Middle East?   By Jamie GlazovFrontPageMagazine.com | Monday, May 05, 2008 Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif), the new chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. FP: Rep. Howard Berman, welcome to Frontpage Interview.Berman: Thank you.FP: You have criticized fellow Democrat, and former president, Jimmy Carter for his recent meetings with Hamas. Update for us the form your criticism has taken.Berman: President Carter has come under bipartisan criticism – from Republicans as well as Democrats -- for meeting with the leaders of Hamas, which is a terrorist...

WHEN it comes to food fights, John Belushi's character in "Animal House" has nothing on Rick Berman. A prominent Washington lobbyist, Mr. Berman runs the Center for Consumer Freedom, a nonprofit advocacy group that is financed by the food and restaurant industries. Two months ago, after a report in a leading medical journal cast doubt on several assumptions about obesity, he pounced. His group ran $600,000 worth of full-page ads in a half-dozen newspapers, gloating that the study showed that obesity was not an "epidemic" but rather a lot of hype. "Americans have been force-fed a steady diet of obesity...

WASHINGTON - Everyone considers immigration reform a top priority when Congress reconvenes next month. But no one agrees what "reform" means. "I fully understand the politics of immigration reform," President Bush assured reporters this week. Many lawmakers, including the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, call tougher enforcement the centerpiece of reform. Many others interpret reform as a code word for a guest-worker program that puts illegal immigrants on track toward a green card. This apparent contradiction could doom legislation. Or perhaps Capitol Hill's long immigration stalemate could be broken by some deft combination of getting tough and giving hope....

Oppose Massive Amnesty for Illegal Aliens Working in Agriculture S. 1645 and H.R. 3142, the Agricultural Job Opportunity, Benefits, and Security Act of 2003, introduced by Sens. Larry Craig (R-ID) and Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Reps. Chris Cannon (R-UT) and Howard Berman (D-CA), is a massive agricultural guestworker-amnesty bill. Amnesty for estimated 3 million Of the 1.2 million illegal aliens currently working in agriculture, an estimated 860,000 plus their spouses and children could qualify for this amnesty, so the total could reach three million or more. Past amnesty for agricultural workers failed The 1986 Special Agriculuture Worker (SAW) amnesty showed...