TPMDC State Department
Iran
U.S. Opens 'Virtual Embassy' For Iran
The United States on Tuesday launched a new "virtual embassy" for Iran. Except it's not really an embassy at all. It's a website with resources and links for the Iranian people.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Hillary Clinton, Iran, State Department
Barack Obama
Environmentalists Win Big Keystone Decision -- For Now
Liberals and environmentalists are rejoicing tonight over the Obama administration's decision to delay -- or in bureaucratese, "seek further review of" -- a proposal to build a massive pipeline from the Canadian Tar Sands to the gulf coast. But their celebration could be short lived.
Here's the full backstory. The so-called Keystone XL pipeline has become the frustrated environmental community's final litmus test for the President. Though the bureaucratic questions surrounding the project have to do with domestic health and safety concerns, environmentalists fear, with good reason, that the pipeline would assure the extraction of too much carbon for the climate to bear. So they've been hounding the White House and State Department for months in an effort to get the project scrapped altogether.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Environment, Mike Johanns, Oil, State Department, White House
Condoleezza Rice
Qaddafi Wrote Song For Rice: 'Black Flower in the White House'
In what may well be the most awkward personal moment in U.S. diplomatic history, in her new memoir Condoleezza Rice recalls a creepy 2008 meeting with then-Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi that ended with Qaddafi showing her photos of herself he had collected and a serenade of a song he had a famous Libyan composer write for her.
Rice's reaction? Run away, run away!!
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: ABC News, Condoleezza Rice, George Stephanopoulos, George W. Bush, Libya, Muammar Qaddafi, State Department
President Obama's earliest supporters, many of whom were first attracted to him because of his opposition to the war in Iraq, spent Friday cheering the news that all U.S. troops would be out of the country by the end of the year.
Still, for core Democratic voters and all war-weary Americans, serious questions remain about how the decision was made, the extent and propriety of the United States' continued commitment and what it means for the mission in Afghanistan.
Ben Rhodes, White House deputy national security advisor for strategic communications, held a conference call Friday afternoon to try to answer some of those lingering questions.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Ben Rhodes, Commission on Wartime Contracting, Iraq, State Department, White House
Darrell Issa
Wartime Contracting Set To Spike Despite Rampant Fraud And Abuse
A soldier helps guard the Rumelia Oil Field in southern Iraq on April 2, 2003.
Despite recent warnings about unchecked fraud and abuse associated with wartime contracting, the number of private contractors and the costs associated with them are set to dramatically increase in the coming transition from the military to the State Department in Iraq and Afghanistan
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, estimated that the State Department is set to increase its manpower in Iraq and Afghanistan from 8,000 to 17,000 -- the great majority of whom will be contractors for security, medical, maintenance, aviation, and other functions.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Darrell Issa, Military Contractors, State Department
Environment
Why Far-Off Canadian Tar Sands Have Become A Make-Or-Break Issue For Obama With Enviros
For six days and counting now, hundreds of protesters have gathered outside the White House to demand President Obama intervene and stop the construction of an oil pipeline that will span the breadth of the United States -- from Montana to the Gulf of Mexico. Over 300 of them have been arrested -- and not just wild-eyed idealistic college students, but high-profile advocates including environmental leader Bill McKibben. Despite all this, the administration says this is a question for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
What the heck is this all about?
At issue isn't just NIMBYism or standard concerns about oil spills, but the question of whether the United States should accelerate an extraction process that some environmental experts say will lose the fight against global warming forever.
Topics: Barack Obama, Climate Change, EPA, Energy, Environment, Global Warming, Hillary Clinton, Oil, Oil Spill, State Department
Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, Nation-Building By Any Other Name Is Still Nation-Building
President Barack Obama
One line more than any other in President Obama's primetime speech about gradually withdrawing troops from Afghanistan is coming back to haunt him.
"America, it is time to focus on nation-building here at home," Obama said towards the end of the speech.
The dramatic line was music to the ears of many of his fellow Democrats and voters who supported him. The words tapped into the populist, isolationist tendencies of many voters across the country who have an acute case of combat fatigue after nearly a decade of wars initiated by another president who promised the very same return to domestic concerns before the 9/11 attacks.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Bob Corker, Hillary Clinton, Jay Carney, Jim Webb, State Department, USAID
'Obama's Wars'
As Obama Mulls Afghan Drawdown, War Weariness Grows On Capitol Hill
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA)
With President Obama's July deadline for withdrawing some troops in Afghanistan just weeks away, the future of the U.S. commitment to the nearly 10-year war has been a hot topic on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue in recent weeks.
Concern over the nation's budget woes have taken center stage in Washington, and with few tangible signs of progress in Afghanistan, members of Congress are increasingly expressing deep skepticism about maintaining U.S. nation-building efforts there.
The most notable aspect of Wednesday's Senate Foreign Relations hearing on the nomination of Ryan Crocker to be ambassador to Afghanistan, was the absence of voices supporting an ongoing robust U.S. presence there.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 'Obama's Wars', Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Budget, James Risch, John Kerry, Military, Robert Menendez, Ryan Crocker, State Department, Troops
Barack Obama
Obama Appeals To 'Hope' Not 'Hate' In Unveiling Shift In Middle East Policy
President Barack Obama
President Obama attempted to reset relations with the Arab world Thursday in a comprehensive speech that positioned the United States and its values squarely behind the democratic uprisings sweeping the Middle East and North Africa and promised aid to help promote economic growth and stability across the region.
"Across the region, those rights that we take for granted are being claimed with joy by those who are prying loose the grip of an iron fist," Obama said during a 45-minute speech at the State Department.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Bahrain, Barack Obama, Egypt, Libya, Middle East, Osama Bin Laden, State Department, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen
Pakistan
Kerry: Pakistan And U.S. Are At A Critical Crossroads
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA)
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), fresh from a trip to Pakistan aimed at repairing deeply frayed relations with the United States, said Tuesday the two nations are at a critical crossroads and cautioned against either side taking precipitous action.
Kerry spent the weekend meeting with Pakistani officials and trying to determine steps that would assuage the deep distrust between the two nations after the discovery of Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan and his subsequent killing in a covert operation by a Navy SEALs team.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Al Qaeda, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, State Department, Taliban
Libya
Obama Sends $25 Million To Libyan Rebels
President Barack Obama formally ordered up to $25 million in urgent -- but non-military -- aid for Libyan rebels fighting Muammar Qaddafi as a fears of a open-ended stalemate escalated.
Obama granted the funds to Libya's Transitional National Council in a memo from the President to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton early Tuesday evening.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Britain, Hillary Clinton, Libya, Muammar Qaddafi, NATO, Robert Gates, State Department, pentagon
Barack Obama
State Department Signed Off On McCain's Libya Trip
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
The U.S. State Department signed off on and supports Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) Friday trip to Libya where he met with rebel forces engaged in a fierce battle with Muammar Qaddafi over control of the country.
"We were aware that Sen. McCain would be making the trip and State supported the codel," White House spokesman Jay Carney told TPM in an e-mail Friday afternoon.
When asked whether McCain was there as an official emissary for the State Department or White House, Carney told reporters earlier only: "No. No that I'm aware of."
An early proponent of U.S. military strikes in Libya, McCain arrived in the country Friday just hours before Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. military's joint chiefs of staff, publicly warned that the conflict was moving into a stalemate as Qaddafi's troops pressed on in an attempt to take back the rebel-controlled areas in Misrata.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Jay Carney, Libya, Muammar Qaddafi, State Department, democratic reforms
Barack Obama
Obama to Ivory Coast's Gbabgo: Stand Down Immediately
Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo
President Obama issued a sternly worded order for Ivory Coast's besieged former President Laurent Gbabgo to relinquish his claim to office and end the violence in the West African country amid reports that he and his top generals are negotiating a surrender.
"To end the violence and prevent more bloodshed, former President Gbabgo must stand down immediately, and direct those who are fighting on his behalf to lay down their arms," Obama said in a statement Tuesday morning. "Every day that the fighting persists will bring more suffering, and further delay the future peace and prosperity that the people of Cote D'Ivoire deserve."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Alassane Ouattara , Barack Obama, France, Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbabgo, State Department, United Nations
CIA
White House: Obama Has Yet To Decide Whether To Arm Libyan Rebels
President Barack Obama
Amid reports that President Obama had signed a secret order authorizing covert support for Libyan rebels, the White House issued a sweeping statement Wednesday evening saying the President has made no decision about supplying arms to the opposition.
White House spokesman Jay Carney first said he would not comment on intelligence matters, but went on to reiterate Obama's recent assertions that he had yet to decide whether to provide arms to the opposition or "to any group in Libya."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, CIA, CIA/DNI/Intelligence, Dan Burton, Jay Carney, Libya, Muammar Qaddafi, State Department
Libya
Obama: 'I Refused' To Let A Massacre Happen In Libya
President Barack Obama
President Obama delivered a clear and determined defense of his decision to authorize U.S. military-led air strikes in Libya, stressing that he could not allow an impending massacre in the country to occur but would not use military might to topple Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi from power.
The speech, delivered Monday night, was cloaked in broad statements about American values and U.S. responsibilities to support democratic movements against brutal and repressive regimes.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 112th Congress, Barack Obama, Britain, Fort Hood, France, Hillary Clinton, Libya, Muammar Qaddafi, State Department, United Nations, no-fly zone
Libya
Libya Talk Turns To Limited Boots On The Ground
Conservative advocates for greater U.S. intervention in Libya are beginning to call for a limited number of boots on the ground to help rebel forces coordinate and target their attacks against Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi.
Max Boot, a longtime proponent of the use of military force to promote U.S. ideals around the world, is calling on President Obama to send special forces teams into Libya to work with the opposition leaders to coordinate their attacks on the ground with NATO airstrikes.
Boot was quick to say he wasn't pushing a foreign occupation on the ground, which would directly violate the United Nations Security Council resolution passed Thursday giving the U.S., Britain and France the authority to use all necessary force to avert a humanitarian crisis.
Topics: 'Obama's Wars', Barack Obama, Council on Foreign Relations, Libya, Muammar Qaddafi, NATO, State Department, United Nations, no-fly zone, pentagon
Libya
Libyan Ambassador to U.S.: Ceasefire Is Not Enough
The Libyan Ambassador to the United States, who has broken with the ruling regime, is urging the U.S., Britain and France to employ the full extent of a U.N. resolution passed Thursday and use military airstrikes to contain Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi as soon as possible.
A cease-fire in Libya does not go far enough to quell the humanitarian crisis in the country and the brutal policies of the Muammar Qaddafi's regime, Ambassador Ali Aujali, who joined the opposition in the early days of the crisis, told reporters Friday morning at the National Press Club.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Britain, France, Hillary Clinton, Libya, Muammar Qaddafi, State Department, United Nations, no-fly zone
Libya
Kerry and Lugar to Obama: Where Are You On Libya?
Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA)
Congressional supporters and opponents of U.S. military intervention in Libya on Capitol Hill are calling on President Obama to clearly define U.S. interests in the Arab country as well as the type of air strikes and other options the administration is pushing in an attempt to prevent Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi from prevailing against rebel forces.
In hearings Thursday, the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Sens. John Kerry (D-Ma) and Richard Lugar (R-IN), respectively, expressed opposite views on imposing a no-fly zone in Libya. Kerry views it as vital to the success of opposition forces; Lugar thinks it would be too costly. But both want the President to step in and use the bully pulpit to clearly articulate his views on the increasingly violent clash.
Topics: Bob Corker, John Kerry, Libya, Marco Rubio, Muammar Qaddafi, Richard Lugar, Senate, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, State Department, no-fly zone
Libya
White House Lays Out New Option on Libya
As Muammar Qaddafi's forces push east and bare down on opposition rebels, the White House continues to deflect calls for a no-fly zone in Libya, instead offering up an entirely new option Tuesday.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said the U.S. is trying to find ways to free up some of billions of dollars of assets seized from the Libyan leader's government to provide help for the opposition. He was short on details about the plan as reporters peppered him with questions about whether the tide has already turned in Qaddafi's favor.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Japan, Jay Carney, Libya, Muammar Qaddafi, NATO, Nuclear Energy, State Department, Tsunami, no-fly zone
Barack Obama
Obama: U.S. 'Slowly Tightening The Noose' Around Qaddafi
President Barack Obama
President Obama says he is "absolutely" concerned about Libyan Leader Muammar Qaddafi prevailing against opposition rebels but said the U.S. and its allies are "slowly tightening the noose" around him in an effort to push the dictator from power.
"I've not taken any options off the table at this point," Obama said in Friday press conference. "...We've moved as swiftly as any international coalition has ever moved to take sanctions...I have not foreclosed any options."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Budget, Budget Committee, CIA, CIA/DNI/Intelligence, Hillary Clinton, House Democrats, House Republicans, James Clapper, Japan, Libya, Muammar Qaddafi, Senate, Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans, State Department
Iraq
Gates: GOP Spending Cuts Could Turn Iraq Into Afghanistan Circa 1990
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
I wrote earlier this month about the GOP's plan to lump State Department funds in with "domestic discretionary spending," and, thus, subject it to massive cuts. At the time, Democrats were warning that this could upend the strategy in Iraq, which involves winding down Defense Department involvement and ratcheting up State Department operations.
I don't know how common it is for cabinet secretaries to protect departments other than their own from spending cuts. But Robert Gates did that yesterday.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Iraq, Robert Gates, Spending, State Department, pentagon
Budget
Cantor Rejects Idea That House Budget Could Harm Nat'l Security
Sec. of State Hillary Clinton
There was a time when a cry of "national security!" set Republican appropriators buzzing, writing blank checks for surveillance, new agencies and wars that eventually went on the nation's credit card.
Those days are apparently over. This morning, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ventured down to Capitol Hill to meet with House Speaker John Boehner and to implore him not to slash her department's budget in the ways described in the GOP's budget proposal. No less than the nation's security is at stake, she told reporters after the meeting.
"The scope of the proposed House cuts is massive," she said. ""The truth is that cuts of that level will be detrimental to America's national security."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Budget, Eric Cantor, Hillary Clinton, State Department
Iraq
Top Dem Says GOP Spending Cuts Will Screw Up Iraq Strategy
Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)
A House GOP plan to carve State Department spending out of the sacrosanct pool of "security" appropriations, and lump it in with "non-security" appropriations could upend the Obama administration's strategy in Iraq, says the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"I'm not sure the House folks [considered] it runs flat into our strategy in Iraq," Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) told me Thursday after an evening vote.
The House took its first step in executing the plan Thursday, when Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan introduced spending limits that would leave the State Department with $9.7 billion -- or 17 percent -- less than Obama requested.
The timing couldn't be worse.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Budget, Budget Committee, Carl Levin, Iraq, Republicans, Senate, Spending, State Department
John McCain
McCain Fears Sadr's Influence In Iraq Ahead of U.S. Withdrawal
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is expressing concern about the movements of radical Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr in and out of Iran and Iraq ahead of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq later this year.
"I'm very concerned about Sadr's activity -- and his followers...I'll be pretty blunt," McCain said Thursday at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Ben Nelson, Iran, Iraq, Jack Reed, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Moqtada Sadr, Senate, Senate Armed Services Committee, Shiite, State Department, Sunni, Taliban
Richard Holbrooke
Richard Holbrooke Dead At 69
Richard Holbrooke
Richard Holbrooke, one of the most prominent U.S. diplomats of his generation, died Monday after a short, sudden illness.
Hospitalized Friday at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C., Holbrooke underwent surgery for a ruptured aorta on Saturday and had a followup procedure on Sunday. His condition, as reported by the State Department, had been listed as critical.
[TPM SLIDESHOW: Richard Holbrooke, 1941-2010]
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Foreign policy, Hillary Clinton, Richard Holbrooke, State Department
Sarah Palin
Palin Falsely Accuses Obama Administration Of Coddling Ahmadinejad With Birthday Wishes
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin is claiming that an unusual bid by the State Department to secure the release of American prisoners in Iran is the equivalent of President Obama coddling dictators. And it all happened on Twitter.
A bit of back story first: In July, 2009, three Americans were detained by Iranian forces near the northern border with Iraq and held on charges of espionage. One has since been released, but the other two -- Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer -- remain in custody and will face charges on November 6. The U.S. government calls the allegations ludicrous and has pushed for their release.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Sarah Palin, State Department
Christine O'Donnell
Christine O'Donnell's Quixotic Campaign To Serve On The Foreign Relations Committee
Christine O'Donnell
Christine O'Donnell has made no secret of her desire to serve, if elected, on the prestigious Senate Foreign Relations Committee. So eager is she for the position that she discusses it as if it were fait accompli.
In a debate last night with her opponent Chris Coons, O'Donnell was unable to name a single Senate Democrat she could work constructively with -- but did describe her future professional relationship with the Secretary of State.
"Hillary Clinton is someone that I look forward to working with," O'Donnell said. "As a member of the Foreign Relations Committee in the U.S. Senate I will have direct conversations with her about where we should be taking our foreign policy and I look forward to that."
Asked earlier this month on Fox News whether she believes Iran will develop nuclear weapons, O'Donnell demurred, "You know, I don't know, I don't have access to the intelligence information that would help make that decision. Perhaps as a U.S. senator sitting on the Foreign Relations Committee, I will. That's one, I would love that."
And, semi-related, in 2006 O'Donnell claimed that she already had access to classified information on the secret Chinese plot to take over the United States.
Even if she wins, though, her ascension is anything but guaranteed. When it comes to a committee slot, O'Donnell will face more obstacles than just winning in November.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 2010 elections, Christine O'Donnell, DE-SEN, Foreign policy, Hillary Clinton, Mitch McConnell, Republicans, Senate '10, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, State Department
Tech diplomacy
State Department Technology Adviser: 'Connectedness' Is Key In Efforts Abroad
Alec J. Ross, State Department Senior Adviser for Innovation.
As I wrote earlier, the Obama administration has been using social networking technology to spread his foreign policy message abroad.
The State Department has been at the forefront of the technology push, coordinating with the private sector abroad with a focus on connectivity.
Alec Ross, senior adviser for innovation at State, told TPMDC about several projects being done in Afghanistan and Pakistan to help bridge those communities in ways diplomats thing will help forge peace.
"The premise is that connectedness is a net positive," Ross said.
"The more voices there are, the more points of view," the better it gets, said Ross, who ran technology media and the telecommunications policy for the Obama campaign, including the text message rollout of Joe Biden as the Democratic vice presidential pick.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)Topics: Afghanistan, Pakistan, State Department, Tech diplomacy, White House
Tech diplomacy
Technology Diplomacy: How The WH Pushes Obama's Message Abroad
The Obama administration wants to make sure people in Afghanistan and Pakistan heard six key sentences in the president's announcement about sending more troops - telling them "America seeks an end to this era of war and suffering."
The State Department took President Obama's comments and similar remarks made by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (they also promised the U.S. has no interest in "occupying" Afghanistan) and translated them into several languages to be spread via compressed video that can be watched on cell phones and mobile devices.
Clinton taped videos directly to the people of Afghanistan and translated into Arabic, Dari, Pashto, and Urdu and one to people in Pakistan, dubbed in Punjabi.
"Building on the lessons of 21st century statecraft, we are aiming to continually listen, learn and engage people around the world," the State Department's Katie Dowd wrote. "It is our hope that we can continually leverage new tools and technology to reach and engage people whether they are 10 or 10,000 miles away."
Alec Ross, senior adviser for innovation at State, told TPMDC that citizens in Afghanistan and Pakistan may lack traditional Internet access in computers with high-speed broadband but they are increasingly getting mobile access. (Read more about Ross' efforts here.)
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)Topics: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, State Department, Tech diplomacy, White House
Ambassadorships
Obama Names Top Campaign Bundler To Ambassador Spot
President Barack Obama
President Obama tonight named another top donor to a plum diplomatic post.
In an evening release with several other nominations, Obama said he would appoint attorney Allan Katz to be ambassador to Portugal. Like all ambassadorships, it is subject to senate confirmation.
Katz, a former City Commissioner from Tallahassee, Florida, pulled together more than $500,000 in donations to the Obama campaign as one of the Democrat's top "bundlers."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 2008 campaign, Allan Katz, Ambassadorships, Barack Obama, State Department, White House
