PEACE & SECURITY | Creating a more stable world
08 May 2008
U.S. Backs Peaceful Solutions, Democratic Leaders in Middle East
State’s Welch says budget request reflects U.S. policies
Washington -- U.S. policy for the Middle East is predicated on support for peaceful solutions and a strengthening of democratic leaders against extremists who use violence, repress fundamental freedoms and seek to undermine U.S. and allied interests.
"Assistance will strengthen and expand U.S. capacity for engagement by enhancing our ability to jointly pursue solutions to vital national security issues and combat terrorism and extremism by promoting freedom, democracy, and access to economic opportunity," says Ambassador David Welch, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs.
Welch, testifying May 8 before a congressional subcommittee, said the U.S. budget for fiscal year 2009, which begins October 1, reflects a continued focus on security assistance to promote U.S. objectives in the region. Those objectives include building well-governed democratic states, promoting human rights and reducing poverty, he said. These goals, he added, require a foundation in security.
House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia Chairman Gary Ackerman said at the outset of the hearing the top problems in the Middle East are governance and freedom. Ackerman said he wanted the hearing to determine if the tools being used by the United States are obsolete for the new challenges emerging in the region.
Welch testified that the 2009 budget reflects the "centrality of the Middle East to United States foreign policy." The most pressing and important commitments are long-term peace, stability and economic growth in the region, he said.
At the top of the U.S. list of priorities is a positive outcome in Iraq, Welch testified. Other priorities include sustaining the security of Israel; advancing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; countering the Iranian regional threat; enhancing the defensive capabilities of allies in the Gulf; strengthening relations with Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf states; and supporting Lebanese democracy and sovereignty.
"Today the need for a strong U.S. diplomatic profile in the Middle East has increased along with the extent to which the threats to our national security emanate from the region," Welch testified.
And robust assistance levels for the region remain essential to regional security and stability, he said.
George Laudato, a special assistant for the Middle East to the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, said that in the 50 years the agency has been working in the Middle East, U.S. assistance has been used to provide clean water and sanitation, better health care, modern schools and teacher training and financing for small businesses, roads and advanced information technology.
The full texts of Ackerman's, Welch's and Laudato's prepared statements are available from the subcommittee.
