Secretary Rice at Heritage Wednesday
October 24, 2006 | By Nathaniel Ward
In her first public address after returning from Asia, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will speak to The Heritage Foundation at 1:30 PM Eastern on Wednesday. Visit MyHeritage.org tomorrow afternoon to watch this important address, which will explain the Bush administration’s policy towards Asia.
Heritage makes news on immigration—again
In May, Heritage expert Robert Rector made a tremendous splash in Washington and in the media when he released two timely papers on the immigration issue. (Read a list of all the press attention Rector received.) Tomorrow night, Rector is set to make news once again.
Be sure to tune into CNN at 6:00 PM Eastern on Wednesday, when Rector will tell host Lou Dobbs about his latest findings on how immigration impacts poverty in America. Rector will explain the statistics behind his forthcoming paper, which will surely help guide Congress when it returns to Washington for its post-election “lame-duck” session.
Our media relations team tells me that Rector should appear in the first 20 minutes or so of the program.
Don’t cut and run. Don’t stay the course. Finish the job!
Neither an immediate withdrawal from Iraq nor an indefinite occupation are viable options for America, Heritage national security analyst James Carafano writes.
Carafano outlines the obvious problems with cutting and running: among other things, it hands the terrorists a victory. The other extreme, “staying the course” with no end in sight, is also foolish, he argues:
The long-term occupation of Iraq will undermine the readiness of the American military. Hosting permanent bases and maintaining the largest U.S. embassy in the world in Baghdad are bad ideas as well. And the longer U.S. troops are there, the more they serve as the poster child for al Qaeda recruiting and an excuse for Iran to flame Shia-Sunni conflict in the country.
Finally, the longer we are there, the more dependent the Iraqis become and the more they avoid addressing the tough security and political issues that must be resolved.
Carafano explains the “practical steps that will give Iraq a fighting chance for a future.”
- Change the tone. “The administration needs to shift its rhetoric from ‘staying the course’ to ‘finishing the job.’” It seems the White House has already heard this message: Press Secretary Tony Snow said yesterday that this slogan has been discontinued since it doesn’t reflect the administration’s adaptation to the changing situation on the ground.
- Restore Iraqi control. “The Iraqis need to start retaking control of their provinces,” which will require police reforms and a crackdown on the radical militias.
- Plan for the future. America must “figure out how to continue to provide support to the Iraqi government and the military after most of our troops are gone.
These steps, he adds, “can and should be done sooner rather than later.”
Restoring local control of education
“Federal aid to education invariably means more federal control of education,” Barry Goldwater warned more than four decades ago. He was all too prescient. After the Great Society imposed federal micromanagement on local schools in exchange for government funding, the No Child Left Behind Act added new regulations and controls—often at the expense of existing state and local standards.
One novel solution, Heritage education expert Dan Lips explains, would allow states to keep federal funding while removing confusing or duplicative federal requirements. “Just as some schools now create charter relationships with districts and thus become ‘charter schools,’” he writes, “states could be given the choice to enter into a chartering agreement with the U.S. Department of Education. Under these agreements, states would receive greater freedom and flexibility to control federal funding while holding schools accountable for results.”
In other news
- “There is too much of a pessimistic tone to this debate” on Iraq, the country’s Deputy Prime Minister, Barham Saliheven, said yesterday. “I would say in certain circles [there is] a defeatist tone.” He added: “We need to be realist but not defeatist. We need to understand that there is a need of utmost urgency to deal with many of the problems of Iraq but we must not give in to panic.”
- Several members of Congress have asked the Pentagon to suspend CNN’s ability to embed reporters in Iraq after the network aired a video in which a sniper targets American troops. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) says the video, shot by terrorists in Iraq, amounts to enemy propaganda.
- Newsweek gives a summary of what liberals might do if they gain power in Congress: throw money at expensive and inefficient security programs; restrict trade by imposing taxes on companies that set up shop overseas; and spend taxpayer dollars on medical research that no private investors think viable. The magazine also reports that liberals “have yet to come up with a coherent plan” for Iraq.
- A Reuters headline explains that “Cuba ponders how to fix socialist economy.” This one’s really a no-brainer: Cuba should ditch its socialist economy.
- The Washington Post reports that some teachers are abandoning “holistic” approaches to teaching English in favor of more traditional methods that actually prepare students to write and speak well.
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, October 25 at 1:30 PM, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will speak American policy towards Asia. Space at this event is no longer available, but check back to MyHeritage.org tomorrow to watch live video.
- On Wednesday, October 25 at 3:00 PM, Italian Senator Marcello Pera will address remedies for the cultural and moral challenges confronting Europe.
- On Thursday, October 26 at noon, a panel of experts will look at the impact of American humanitarian assistance and how these programs have fostered international goodwill.
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.
