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Subject: USGOV: Powell on ET, UN, IMET
APITOL HILL HEARING LENGTH: 22870 words HEARING OF THE COMMERCE JUSTICE, STATE JUDICIARY AND RELATED AGENCIES SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE FISCAL YEAR 2005 STATE DEPARTMENT APPROPRIATIONS CHAIRED BY: REPRESENTATIVE FRANK WOLF (R-VA) 2359 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C. WITNESSES: SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL REP. KENNEDY: Finally, on East Timor, you know that the record of Indonesia is particularly bad this year, with Aceh in particular. A lot of the people that were indicted for the war crimes tribunal in East Timor are running around -- in fact, many of them are the ones that are persecuting the people in Aceh, and there's horrendous reports in your own State Department report of human rights abuses. Would you support the extension called on by Annan for the U.N. to remain in place for a longer period of time? SEC. POWELL: In East Timor? REP. KENNEDY: In East Timor. SEC. POWELL: I don't -- I'm not sure what the secretary-general has called for recently, but I have been very supportive of what the U.N. is doing there trying -- REP. KENNEDY: Just proposed an extension, yeah. SEC. POWELL: Yeah. I haven't seen the nature of the extension, so what I would have to do is check with the secretary-general and then get back to you, Mr. Kennedy. REP. KENNEDY: Well, I certainly look forward to getting your input, too, on the war crimes tribunal and the importance of that. And what is your opinion, too, on the international military -- IMET program, education, training. I know you, being former military -- SEC. POWELL: I'm very supportive of it. I think it is one of the great investments that we make in countries around the world. It doesn't mean that occasionally we won't turn up a bad apple. But in my military experience a lot of the individuals that we trained or that I trained with at staff colleges or basic training at Fort Benning grew into solid professionals committed to democracy. So I think IMET is a great program and we should be careful about cutting off IMET as a way of punishing a country, because at the end of the day you may end up regretting it by not training the future leaders of that country, future military leaders of that country. REP. KENNEDY: Well, I'd prefer to have you have that say rather than the Pentagon. And I know more and more people feel the worries -- it's a worrisome transition that more and more of IMET is being decided by the Pentagon, not by -- without as much input by the State Department. So I would -- SEC. POWELL: Well, we have great -- you know, we have a lot -- we have the say on it, but of course, it's the Pentagon that knows the individuals and has -- is in the best position to determine who should receive the training. But we work in a cooperative base, on a cooperative basis with the Pentagon. REP. KENNEDY: All right. Well, obviously in East Timor that's become a big issue of continuing to support the military folks that are now engaged in more abuses now in another part of Indonesia, and it's just a worry that we have that they're not -- it's not seeming to be proven effective in helping hold Indonesia's feet to the fire. And finally, Mr. Chairman, if I could, on the commission into the intelligence failures regarding the war in Iraq, do you believe there ought to be subpoena power? Because as you know, there's no commission that has any effectiveness in this town if it -- especially amongst bureaucracies that are intransigent, to self-criticism if they don't have the subpoena power that the president -- this is the commission the president's called for. SEC. POWELL: Oh, I know. I -- I believe the circumstances and the conditions and the rules and standards under which the president set the commission up are adequate, Mr. Kennedy. And I can assure you that I'm not intransigent to request from the president to cooperate with whatever commission he has established. REP. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Support ETAN, make a secure financial contribution at etan.org/etan/donate.htm Back to March menu |