WELCOME, ENEMIES? The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) examined recent State Department numbers from the congressionally mandated diversity visa program and found that 25% of the program's winners came from countries whose populations are considered security risks. "One-quarter of the immigrants admitted to the U.S. under the 'diversity lottery' program in the last two years came from countries that sponsor terrorism or are considered terrorist breeding grounds, according to INS data. . .," FAIR reported. "In 2001-2003, 42,135 'diversity' immigrants-one in four-were admitted from the 25 countries whose citizens are required to register with the INS under the NSEERS (National Security Entry-Exit Registration System) program because our government considers them to be security risks. Among the nationalities that have benefited the most from the 'diversity lottery' over the past three years are Bangladesh, Morocco, Egypt and Sudan (residence of Osama bin Laden in the early 1990s)."
MARTIAL LAW: Secretary of State Colin Powell told the House International Relations Committee on February 12 that after the war against Iraq, an American general would rule the nation for a time while relying on local administrators. "The plans we are looking at include using the institutions that are there," said Powell. "There is a nation there. What it has is rotten leadership." "Powell spoke as the Bush Administration firmed up plans for a military occupation of Iraq that would leave the country's Sunni Arab minority in control and permit Turkish troops to be stationed inside northern Iraq, over the vehement objections of Iraqi Kurds," reported USA Today. "The plan calls for a U.S. general to be in overall charge for at least two years. An Iraqi council that would include former senior statesmen would provide advice on a transition to a more representative form of government, U.S. and Iraqi sources say."
CLASS WARFARE? Progressive Caucus Co-Chairmen Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D.-Ohio) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D.-Calif.) fought reauthorization of an important part of the successful 1996 welfare reform bill. "The Republican TANF [Temporary Assistance to Needy Families] plan is a continuation of the failed policy of the past, and ignores current economic conditions," they said. "The current Republican proposal preys upon low-income Americans, who are disproportionately African-Americans and people of color, and will continue class welfare in this nation. . . ." Class warfare, for liberals, now includes moving people from dependence on welfare to self-sufficiency.
CHOPPING BLOCK: In response to the complaints of conservatives that the administration is not committed to rolling back the size of government, OMB Director Mitch Daniels recently pointed out that "in the Department of Education HUMAN EVENTS' John Gizzi that there were numerous other agencies that his office would try to eliminate in the budget process, "among them a program in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, called Hopesix, which tears down public housing and offers [compensation] to the homeowners that is half-again the cost per unit as much as giving a block grant."
SCHROEDER ON THE ROPES: While playing the "Iraqi card" and ruling out assisting the United States in overthrowing Saddam was pivotal to his narrow re-election last year, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder found that it wasn't enough to overcome voter anger over Depression-level unemployment and his own call for 50 new taxes. Schroeder's Social Democratic Party was swept out of power in local elections in the state of Lower Saxony (where Schroeder himself was premier for eight years before his election as chancellor in 1998), while conservative regional Premier Roland Koch was resoundingly re-elected in Hesse. Prior to the elections, Schroeder had removed any doubt that Germany would not support a second UN resolution approving a U.S.-led military action in Iraq.
AMBASSADORIAL EXODUS: Watch for an exodus of U.S. ambassadors in high-level spots as envoys return home to help raise money for the President's re-election campaign. Richard Egan, a Boston industrialist and top Bush fund-raiser in '00, has already left as our man in Ireland and could well be followed by Ambassadors Nancy Brinker (Hungary) and Howard Leach (France). Leading candidates to succeed Egan in Dublin include U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Jim Nicholson, author Peggy Noonan, and New York attorney Grant Lally, head of Irish for Bush/Cheney in 2000.
