July 25, 2006 | By Nathaniel Ward

Secretary Rice in the Middle East

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaking recently on the battle between Israel and Hezbollah terrorists.

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Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited a besieged Lebanon yesterday on her mission to promote America’s policies in the Middle East. She has so far refused to call for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah terrorists—and rightly so, since peace and stability are not advanced by a ceasefire that gives Hezbollah and its Syrian and Iranian backers time to regroup for a future assault.

The secretary must reiterate three strong principles of American policy when meeting with foreign leaders on her trip, Heritage’s James Carafano writes.

• Reject terrorism. Rice should reaffirm that “[t]he United States rejects the proposition that the intentional slaughter of innocents is an acceptable way to promote any agenda.”
• Promote moderation. “The United States must reaffirm its support for moderate Arabs who recognize that the only real chance to achieve the blessings of honor and justice is to reject groups like Hezbollah that would slaughter or enslave one people to promote another.”
• Support for freedom. “Secretary Rice must reaffirm America’s commitment to stand by the people of Lebanon who voted for freedom with humanitarian assistance, reconstruction aid, support for good governance, and a pledge to press for the demilitarization of Hezbollah.”

During her surprise visit to Lebanon yesterday, Secretary Rice took steps towards all three goals.

• Who do you believe is most responsible for causing the current crisis in the Middle East? Take the poll.

Telling Congress why we need internal enforcement

This morning, Carafano submitted testimony to Congress about the need to enforce immigration laws inside the country and disrupt the underground workforce of illegal immigrants.

“This excessive acceptance of a shadow workforce,” he explained to the House Committee on Government Reform, “encourages illegal border crossings, encourages other companies to break the law, and forces states and local communities to subsidize cheap, illegal labor by bearing social costs such as uncompensated emergency room care, education, and social services.”

Enforcement on employers is certainly possible even today, Carafano said. “Targeted workplace enforcement works and it does not require millions of dollars of new technology, more intrusive government, or expensive new programs to make it happen.” New reforms, for instance to catch the use of false Social Security numbers or penalize employers, could allow even stronger enforcement.

Carafano stressed in his conclusion that “strengthening enforcement of employer hiring practices is only one component” of a sound immigration policy. A complete policy, he explained, would include stepped-up border enforcement plus new incentives for employers to hire legal workers and for would-be workers to enter the country legally.

• Read Heritage’s complete proposal for immigration reform
• Tell your friends about the need for sound immigration policy. Send this e-mail to five colleagues!
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Keeping personal information private

In the past several months, the media has reported on the theft or other loss of personal information about millions of citizens by banks and credit agencies.

While alarming, most of these stories don’t hold a candle to the abuse of personal data at the IRS. Heritage’s Dan Mitchell reports in The Washington Times that the Treasury Department is investigating thousands of cases of “snooping” in tax records by IRS officials. “Every tax return has all the information needed to bilk an unfortunate victim, through the use of phony credit cards or other scams,” Mitchell writes. Worse still, IRS officials have proposed making this information even more vulnerable by sharing it with other agencies.

Instead of simply treating the symptoms of the problem through more aggressive prosecutions, Mitchell argues that we should address the real problem: a tax code that “requires the collection of far too much personal information by far too many people.”

A flat tax would solve this problem in two ways, Mitchell explains:

• The personal information sent to the IRS would be reduced. “The hundreds of forms required by the current tax code would shrink to two postcard-sized forms, and individual taxpayers would need to tell the government only the size of their household and the amount of labor income they earned.”
• The number of people with access to the data at the IRS would be reduced. “[A] flat tax would allow a dramatic downsizing of the IRS. Instead of 100,000 employees (bigger than the CIA, FBI and DEA combined), the tax collection agency could operate with a skeleton staff.”

And there are many other advantages to a flat tax as well, like increased global competitiveness and reduced penalties on work and investment.

Explaining health care reform to lawmakers

Heritage health care experts Nina Owcharenko and Ed Haislmaier traveled to San Francisco last week where they explained the need for consumer-based health care to a national conference of state legislators and to a conservative policy organization. States can play an important role in reforming wasteful entitlement programs and permitting consumer choice and individual ownership of health insurance, they told the groups.

• Read summaries of Heritage’s proposals for health care reform
• Read interviews with Bob Moffit and Stuart Butler on consumer-based health care reform in the states

In other news

• The Senate has scheduled new hearings on the confirmation of John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations. Bolton, a strong reformer and advocate of freedom, was appointed by President Bushduring a recess last year after the Senate refused to act on his nomination. Senate liberals have promised a “bruising fight” over his nomination, arguing even that other UN ambassadors don’t like the work he does.
• Global free trade talks collapsed after European and American negotiators failed to reach an agreement to limit government subsidies to agriculture. This sort of government interference in the economy artificially distorts world markets for farm goods, undercutting farmers in the developing world and hindering free enterprise.
• American Floyd Landis won the Tour de France bicycle race on Sunday. An American has now worn the yellow champion's jersey eight years running.

Coming up at Heritage

To attend these or any other Heritage Foundation events, RSVP at Heritage’s events website. Or you can watch these events live online at Heritage.org. All times are Eastern.

• On Wednesday, July 26 at 11:00 am, Middle East scholars Daniel Pipes, Aaron Mannes and Patrick Clawson will join Heritage’s Ariel Cohen for a discussion of Iran and Syria’s role in the current Middle East crisis.
• On Monday, July 31 at noon, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz will speak to a sold-out crowd at Heritage about how to use foreign aid to strengthen America’s position overseas.

Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.

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