While We Sink, the Russian Bear Rises

All of this has happened in the last week.

Item: Russia offers to share air defense savvy with Cuba.

Item: Russia signs landmark oil pipeline deal with China.

Item: Russia inks oil deal with Vietnam.

Item: Russia laughs at U.S. sanctions aimed at $30 billion in arms exports to China, India, Algeria, Venezuela, Iran, Malaysia and Serbia.

Congressman Dent Favors "Responsible Drawdown" in Iraq

LVRamblings: How do you see America responsibly handling the War in Iraq and America's growing debt at the same time? What condition are we going to leave the country in for our children? This question is posed by one of your supporters.

Congressman Dent: "It's a reasonable question. As we all know, the war began before I arrived in Congress. I was briefed recently in the situation room on the Status of Forces Agreement. The Status of Forces Agreement is something that I urged well over a year ago. There are over 70 Status of Forces Agreements around the world. We have them in Germany, Korea, Iceland. They state the terms and conditions under which our troops maintain a presence. We have one in the Philippines. They don't want us to be there so we're gone. The same thing is happening in Iraq. We are very close to initialling a Status of Forces Agreement.

"I believe you will see a significant drawdown of our troops, based on conditions on the ground, and that is a good thing. The Iraqi government has talked about time horizons and that is being discussed as part of a Status of Forces Agreement that will be flexible. The good thing about that is that the Iraqi government now feels that they have enough control of the security situation and political situation to basically encourage a lessening of our combatant presence. That is a good thing. That is a very good thing.

"Remember, if the state of Iraq fails, the people who are negotiating this Agreement will be the first ones who will be lined up against a wall and shot. And they know that.

"The problem with Congress on Iraq is we've always talked about congressionally legislated timelines. If we had adopted the timelines that Siobhan Bennett had advocated, she would have in effect have legislated defeat."

LVRamblings: And possibly genocide?

Congressman Dent: "And possibly genocide and unspeakable atrocities. Had we done what we wanted to do, we would be having a very different conversation today about a Status of Forces agreement and a time horizon agreed to by both governments. This is being driven by the Iraqis and that's a good thing. it means the security situation has improved as has the political situation. That is encouraging.

"The problem in Congress is that the debate has always been very narrow. We've been debating very narrow aspects. Pro-surge or anti-surge. Timelines. Mandatory rest periods. By the way, if we had done what Bennett wanted to do on the rest period, she would have in effect extended the deployment of troops currently serving in Iraq and treated people serving in Iraq differently than people serving in Afghanistan. That's what she wanted to do. She would have extended their deployments because if you couldn't move people in, you wouldn't be able to move people out. She would have extended them."

LVRamblings: You mean, my daughter would have stayed there a little longer?

Congressman Dent: "Yes, that is correct. If we had done it the way Bennett wanted to do it, your daughter would be staying there longer. She would have had a much longer deployment than she would have liked.

"The goal is to go to one year rest for one year deployment, but the way she proposed it . . .

LVRamblings: It would have been inequitable . . .

Congressman Dent: "It would have been inequitable and it would have extended deployment of our men and women serving in Iraq. It would have been a fiasco.

"By the way, I was one of the guys - there were a handful of us on both sides of the aisle - who always, when these Iraq votes came up, said we have this bi-partisan document, the Iraq Study Group. We wanted to present it as a comprehensive policy. The truth is, the Bush administration wasn't thrilled about it, Speaker Pelosi didn't like it, Speaker Pelosi refused to allow it to be considered. I went to the Rules Committee on two separate occasions, trying to present this to the whole House for a vote. They said No. I think that was in February of 2007. I went back again three months later - I think it was in the summer of 2007 - and they told me I should have brought it up months ago. I said, well I did, but you said no then. Remember? They said No."

LVRamblings: I think I remember blogging about that . . .

Congressman Dent: "But that';s the way i tried to work. Sestak was there . . ."

LVRamblings: Sestak is a Democratic Congressman . . .

Congressman Dent: "He was there. He sat in the Rules meeting with me . . ."

LVRamblings: He is the first one to announce candidly that "immediate withdrawal" means 18 to 24 months . . . that there's no way you can withdraw troops any quicker without exposing them to danger . . .

Congressman Dent: "And Joe Sestak, who served in the Clinton administration, said it took six months to move 10,000 people out of Somalia. You can't move 160,000 people out of Iraq in six months. It's just impossible."

"That's the problem with Siobhan Bennett's timelines. They would have legislated defeat, would have led to enormous safety problems for our troops, many of whom would have died in that kind of ignominious retreat. That's really what she would have prescribed. I think that's the reality.

"I've always voted to fund our troops. I believe Senator McCain always has, and Senator Obama has on most occasions. There's one occasion when he did not. But Siobham does not support funding our troops. She has been in opposition to any funds going to our troops, who are in harm's way.

"All she ever wanted to do is establish operational controls on our troops. I've been to Afghanistan, I've been to Iraq. What really disturbs me about Bennett's position is what I see with NATO allies who impose very strict operational controls on their troops. I've seen this. That puts very heavy pressure on other NATO forces, especially us, to do what they are unable to do because of the controls placed on them. That's what Siobhan wants to do to our troops and commanders in Iraq - place operational controls so they cannot do what they need to do.

"It's one of the challenges and this gets back to the Russia-Georgia issue. I am very concerned about NATO. I believe in NATO, but NATO is not a club. It is a collective defense organization. If this collective defense organization fails, we'll all be the worse for it. So we have to be very careful when we talk about admitting new nations into NATO, whether it be Georgia and that obligates us to their . . ."

LVRamblings: It obligates us to defend them . . .

Congressman Dent: "That's correct. Or the Ukraine or whoever.

"We have to have a very sober conversation about what membership means. Our nation spends nearly 4% of its GDP on defense. Many of our good friends in Europe spend about 1%. So this defense obligation will fall most heavily on The United States of America. So we have to think about this. We have to consider or revisit the membership criterion of NATO. Maybe nations should be required to invest more in their own security. This is an American guarantee for their defense. At the end of the day, we are providing so much of the leadership in NATO, whether it be in Afghanistan or Europe, that this is something we have to think very hard about.

"Last night, I wrote up my feelings about Iraq. You can have this if you want."

LVRamblings: Sure, I'll load it up on my blog. (Congressman Dent's condensed views about Iraq are portrayed in the blog below).

Charlie Dent: "The Russian Bear is Awake"

Lehigh Valley Congressman Charlie Dent is a student of foreign policy. His undergrad degree from PSU is in Foreign Service and International Politics. In January, he actually called me from Islamabad. He was in the midst of a visit to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. He spent at least fifteen minutes describing the people of each country. His interest in foreign affairs is one of the strengths he brings to Congress.

When Dent and I got together, Russia had already invaded its former vassal state, Georgia. It had signed a cease fire, but reports were circulating that the Russian bear was ignoring its own agreement. In a scant six days, Russia has broken a defiant Georgia in a ruthless display of brute power while we've watched. It has reshaped the world order.

LVRamblings: What's going on?

Congressman Dent: "First, it is quite clear that the Russian bear is awake and is angry. Prime Minister Putin and President Medvedev have territorial designs and ambitions towards Georgia. There are clearly ethnic tensions in South Osettia, which is largely driving this dispute. But what we are also seeing here are very aggressive territorial designs of the current Russian leadership.

"This is unacceptable. The Russians must withdraw. They were parties to a cease fire and they seem to have violated that cease fire - they must withdraw from Georgia. That is the first thing that needs to occur.

"Clearly, a military option from our country is off the table. Nobody is seriously talking about that. The issue for us is - how do we appropriately appropriately sanction the Russians for this egregious military action?"

LVRamblings: Before we get to that, I've read that the Russians have spent the last several years feeling embarrassed, ashamed, humiliated and that they want to restore their hegemony over the adjoining states and the lustre of the U.S.S.R. Is that a legitimate concern?

Congressman Dent: "I believe that the Russian nation and certainly its current leadership feel as if they've been humiliated after the former Soviet Union dissolved. This was a blow to Russian national pride. Now that you see a Russia with some money, they feel resurgent and confident.

"What you're also seeing here is the convergence of our international security situation with our energy needs. This is driven, not only by Russian designs for territory, but also by Russian ambitions on the energy side of the equation.

"This is why we need American sources of energy, so we become less susceptible to these incidents.

"We should be looking at sanctions. Frankly, I think we ought to reconsider Russia's membership in the G8. That would be a blow to their national pride. Being in the G8 is very important to them. It will harm their stature if we take them out. They want to get involved in the World Trade Organization, the OECD. These are areas where we have some heavy leverage over the Russians.

"As far as I am concerned, this really is going to put a damper on and sours the relations between our nation and Russia. Georgia is a democratically elected government and is pro-Western just as Yushchenko's Ukraine is pro-Western. It's quite clear that Messrs. Putin and Medvedev are concerned about this Western orientation of some of their former Republics. That's also what partially drives this Russian aggression towards Georgia."

When I interviewed Sam Bennett, she was unable to name the leaders of China, France, Germany, India, Afghanistan or Sudan. Perhaps it was unfair to put her on the spot with questions like that, but her shallow understanding of foreign affairs stands in start contrast to Charlie Dent's expertise.