i would not be surprised if the issue of darfur is there as well. we can see the names. -- we can get you the names. >> the u.s. commission said in a statement that the indian government has denied -- we're planning to go to india this month. they said that the state department -- what is your view? >> i do not know. if we have anything, i will let you know. >> apparently are rock is performing a committee -- is forming a committee to assess the situation of its prisoners there -- and apparently, iraq is forming a committee to assess the situation of its prisoners. is the u.s. involved in the evaluation of its prison system? >> chris hill, the ambassador to iraq, will be here at this very podium. as can that question. -- ask him that question. >> is the u.s. -- the meeting between the two presidents, has it become a major issue? are there any plans for bringing together the five parties in some way to discuss where to go next in terms of dealing with the situation? >> i would say that first and foremost, it was the very close collaboration among the

there are accusations of going on right now in darfur and in sri lanka. does germany have an extra obligation to take action to prevent genocide in other parts of the world? >> with respect to the confidence-building measures or next steps, again, i will be bringing george mitchell back into the region. he will meet with the parties involved. i think i have said publicly and repeated in the speech some things that are going to have to be done. a lot of the tension has been given to my statement that the israelis need to stop settlement construction. i recognize that it has received a lot of attention in israel as well. keep in mind that all i have done there is reaffirming commitments that the israelis themselves have already made. i recognize the very difficult politics within israel of getting that done. i am very sympathetic to how hard it will be, but as israel's friend the united states has an obligation to just be honest with that friend about how important it is to achieve a two-state solution for israel's national security interests as well as our

that would allow the internally displaced people from darfur to start returning to their homes. so we have been very active on this issue. it may not have received the attention in the press that some of the other issues have, but we are spending a lot of time trying to make sure that we make progress and that the people of darfur are able to return to their homes and live in peace. >> well, first, experience, part and parcel of our history of our past experience in history is [unintelligible] and after that comes an everlasting responsibility for the safety and security for the state of israel. if you like, this has been the resolve of any german government, and it will always -- since israel came into being, and it will always be. as of genocide, all over the world, we have a responsibility. and we work closely together. we, all of us, have made the experience along the way, that this quite often takes much longer to resolve than one would like it and can be satisfied about. but military intervention alone without any political framework that we put on these issues is also not

today, innocent civilians from darfur are celebrating -- are still going through genocide. they are dying at the hands of the janjaweed, also known as the devil on horseback. the united states for years has been seeking to help find ways to ease the suffering in darfur and find a lasting political solution to each of the interrelated crises in sudan. we passed resolutions and impose economic and travel sanctions, frozen assets and enabled divestment from companies linked to the sudanese regime. the united states has led efforts at the united nations with bilateral partners to meet humanitarian needs while pressing for the full deployment of peacekeeping missions to help protect civilians. in addition to supporting efforts to negotiate and implement the darfur peace agreement, the united states also was at the forefront of efforts to resolve the conflict in southern sudan, a conflict which has left over two million people dead and another four million displaced. today, there's universal acknowledgment that if the comprehensive peace agreement between the north and south fail

on the issue of darfur, for example, i simply did not mention it in a speech yesterday. i talked about genocide taking place in a majority muslim country. i also raised in discussions with the president of egypt, who has strong diplomatic relations with the country of sedan -- sudan. i have assigned one of my closest national security advisers as a special envoy who has been traveling throughout the region trying to not only solve the immediate humanitarian crisis that exists and that was made worse when president bush kicked out many of the organizations that had been providing humanitarian assistance. we had been working diligently to solve the immediate problem and get humanitarian assistance back on the ground. what we have also been doing is to try to reactivate the possibilities of a peaceful -- a peace settlement between them and the rebels and are for -- in darfur that would allow for the internally displaced people from darfur to start returning to their homes. we have been very active on this issue. it may not have received the attention in the press that some

the lives of many people are at risk whether they are in darfur or the free areas. we want to make sure that this situation is stable. we are taking efforts to make sure that the humanitarian assistance is there and we are able to facilitate and help coordinate a ceasefire. we want to make sure there are political processes in place and in dark for and other places said the will of the people can be brought and they can have democratic principles and the mechanisms. that is what we are working on right now. we're using all methods to accomplish this, whether they be carrots and sticks. >> the that mean there is continuity with the last administration? >> what we are doing is making sure that value is added to this situation. there are things that the last administration was doing that we are continuing and there are things that are new in terms of our approach. we want to get results. but we cannot tolerate is the continuing lack of human rights that we are seeing, the lack of conditions that we want those people to live in. we are taking a look at all of the elemen

president bush and his top officials always talk about darfur as a genocide. would you describe the situation right now as a genocide? >> what we see is the remnants of genocide. we see the consequences

we worked together on darfur, sudan, but this is the very issue why we disagree here. because all members should know that it was eritrea that was the first country to invite sudan's president to visitor tria following an arrest warrant for his crimes against humanity in darfur. now, with respect to the issue, i can think of numerous issues and times when congress has had to push and would take sudan an example, since the example i'm giving here is an example in which eritrea has welcomed al-bashir, at a time when the international community is trying to get him to prevent the crimes he's committed in darfur, we have had to push to take more assertive actions. we did that with genocide in sudan. and if my view, there's nothing wrong now, especially with respect to its state sponsorship of terrorism. i think that the assistant secretary of state for africa's words speak for themselves. again, this is secretary carson, before the senate foreign relations committee last month in which he said, we have clear evidence that eritrea is supporting these extremist elements, inc

guest: darfur is a very good example of a story that like gaza surfaces and then slips away far too often. 400,000 people indarfur have died because of war or famine in recent years. it is a place that my newspaper spends a lot of time covering. a correspondent spent weeks at a time there. this is an age where stories are of the moment, unfortunately, and our attention span can be very short. iran in particular has captured the world's attention and this country's imagination largely because of the very tangible u.s. national security interests there. that is one of the reasons special attention is paid iran. darfur poses such a huge moral dilemma to the world and a challenge to western powers not to allow genocide again. the response has been inconsistent. it is a story that does deserve more attention. host: from florida, chris on the independent line. caller: good morning. some of the statement you are putting out are disingenuous. let's go to john mccain and lindsey gramm. they said they wanted a harsh statement. once he said the statement they said that is what they wanted. when you

peacekeeping missions in darfur fuhr, -- darfur, the republic of congo and chad. and my leglation on ensuring that continue to push for the comprehensive peace agree is in this legislation. then i'm extremely delighted and pleased that section 1104 has placed by bill into this legislation which dictates it is the purpose of of this section to increase global stability and security for the united states and the international community and decrease trafficking and discrimination by reducing the number of individuals who are de facto stateless. this will help women and children, those who have been dispossessed, those who are victim of human trafficking. some of those case vs. found themselves into my own community in texas. let me again, mr. chairman, say that i rise to support h.r. 2410 and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from florida. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, mr. chairman. i'm pleased to yield three minutes to the gentleman from south carolina, mr. inglis, a member of our foreign affairs committee. the chair: the gentleman from south carol

we are able to get into darfur. we have numerous reports on our website. i invite you to look at it. with that -- we try to push for things like no-fly zones, the government is not able to go in and bomb the civilian population from helicopters or planes. if you will allow me, one of the things i personally find difficult is oftentimes with regard to africa human rights abuses are reviewed three races lens. i have found, you look at how the united states responded to the crisis in kosovo when albanians were being killed. nato when in with troops, bombs were dropped, we have occupied the nation now for many years. i think that is something that we need to get past. human rights watch, we worked there, if there is a bad spot in the world, we will be there. the only place that we have a very hard time operating is north korea. that is very -- fairly up -- obvious why. >> are there any more dilemmas that you face? >> one is accessed, every time the people want you to go in, we will be there. you cannot always go on a visa. sometimes you have to find more inter

violence continues in darfur and chad. the people of darfur are still waiting as are those of the democratic republic of the congo and chad where shortages of helicopters are crippling the work of ump u.n. peace keepers. if we are to regain our moral authority in the world we must continue to lead the fight against genocide and champion the protection of innocent civilians. this bill will help. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentlewoman from florida continues to reserve. the gentleman from california. mr. berman: mr. chairman, i'm pleased to yield to the gentleman from illinois a member of the committee on appropriations, one minute. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> i'm pleased to support this. h.r. 2828 compensates relatives of u.s. citizens killed in embassy bombings in tanzania. al qaeda truck bombs exploded simultaneously in tanzania and nigh robo. the bombings in nairobi killed 12 americans. they were sergeant nathan alagana, john rose, molly huc

the save darfur council, church world service and american council on education, a coalition of all the major public and private universities in this country all strongly support this legislation. i urge all my colleague on both sides of the aisle to support this important legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from -- the chair: the gentleman from california reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from florida. ms. ros-lehtinen: i would like to take our time in opposition of this bill. the chair: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. ros-lehtinen: some dear colleague letters sent out earlier this week to express their -- express their support on the bill tended to focus on the few attractive features of the bill, such as the improvements it would make on the initiative to assist mexico and other central american countries to fight the dangerous drug cartels. unfortunately, supporters of this bill have remained silent or ignored its fundamental problems and the fundamental problems on this bill are that the bill calls for intor by

none who is following what is happening in africa, whether did is darfur or the congo, understand the brutality that is going on. we need to help end the brow talt, particularly -- and i know my colleague in the chair knows this -- the brutality against the women where in these countries, rape is used as a tool of war and rape is used as a tool of ethnic calendaring. we cannot allow -- ethic cleansing. weannot allow that to happen. it is an obligation we have as the leader of the free world. i guess i want to say to my colleague from arizona i totally understand his frustration with spending. and i have to trillion him this democratic congress is going to wrap its arms around spending. we did it before under president clinton. we had horrible deficits that president clinton inherited from the other george bush and we got our act in order. we had pay as you go. we're going to do that with this president. but let me tell you, this president has been in office from january to february, march, april, may, june -- five months. we have averted economic disaster. and we have a foreign policy

you will not go to darfur and do a big investigative piece. you rely on newspapers for that. those budgets have been getting cut. even as a tv guy, the vast majority of investigative stuff is being done by newspapers. >> i will make a bold prediction that newspapers will not disappear. certainly, the economic model that we have all come to identify with, the newspaper itself is changing. we have not figured out what the result will look like. i think that' there is an enormous appetite for what we provide, and what nobody else provides frankly. we were talking about this at lunch, the internet, there is a lot on the internet. there are a lot of opinions. there are not a lot of facts easily presented. i think about when my kids do their science projects. they go onto the internet to find information about gravity. they don't know the difference between the national academy of sciences, and some joe schmoe's 8 graders internet project. they aren't able to distinguish between real information and integrity. the scariest thing to me is come i can't remember where i read it, but.

win innocence and bosnia and darfur are slaughtered, that is a stain on our collective conscience. [applause] that is what it means to share this world in the 21st century. that is the responsibility we have to one another as human beings. this is a difficult responsibility to embrace, for human history has often been a record of nations and tribes, and yes, her religion's subjugating one another in pursuit of their own interests. yet, in this new age such attitudes are self-defeating. given our inner dependence, any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail. so, whatever we think of the past, we must not be prisoners to it. our problems must be dealt with through a partnership. our progress must be shared. [applause] now, that does not mean we should ignore sources of tension. indeed, it's just the opposite. we must face these tensions squarely. and so, it in that spirit let me speak as clearly and as plainly as i can about some specific issues that i believe we must finally confront together. the first issue that we have to confront

i just did a story about darfur and was shocked by how many people don't even know what that means. >> host: which one of you would like to answer? >> some of the injustices you aeak to are things that are on my mind as well. and what to do. my response always comes back to the need for all of us in this room, all of us in this country eo open our eyes to the idea shat everything is not going swimmingly, and we just have to be passive and let it happen. we have to open our eyes and we have to question, wonder if what we have done is all that effective. >> host: where are you from? >> caller: i am from cleveland, ohio. i am asking this question on behalf of those of us in the viewing audience who are scientists for have a strong scientific and mathematical background, but not so much in education, who are nearing retirement age. what i would like is your unseghts. we are not ready to go sailing into the sunset. what are your thoughts on various ways that we can make a difference? >> that is an important question, it is not just a math and science question. i am 65. ve are getting into

when darfur, burma is in chains, zimbabwe is in agony. the mortal thread of poverty, hunger, ill litssy, disease and warrant. so there are dreams of liberation still to be realized, commitments still too be redeemed. vows to the dead still to be kept. so we must be as if liberators for our day and our generation, too. today we are only halfway to honoring the pledges we made for a new world. we are only halfway away from these beaches to the shining future that truly global society to which they open the way. the beacon of hope that was lit with the liberation of europe must now lead us on. on to a world free of the danger of nuclear weapons, with all asshuring the mutual security of each against terror and war. lead us on to a world finally delivers from the evil of poverty and the sin of prejudice where intolerance is never tolerated, where no one suffers persecution or discrimination on grounds of race, or faith or differences of identity and nationality. the new world we reach for is not preordained or predetermined. just as victory a

point out that it did come up as a question this morning, the president did talk about the situation in darfur, and we will we talking about his meeting with angela merkel, the chancellor from germany, later on c-span. thank you for the call. guest: i think one of the point here that the caller alluded to -- yes, there was a change in terminology, but i think when the president was trying to articulate american values and interests, he said, look, this idea of 9/11 being perpetrated by al qaeda, some in the muslim world question that if it was al qaeda, there were lured rumors. he said this is the fact. 3000 of my citizens have been slaughtered. that is why we are in afghanistan. i think he tried to be very direct when he said this is the priority of the american president, to protect american lives. but i think he fails by reaching out and trying to widen the distance between the muslim communities and extremists, that is the best hope, is to isolate. and al qaeda -- i think it is no coincidence that ayman of zawahiri and osama bin laden -- i think given their statements, their most nervous a

caller: i have a question about the refugees in israel, tel aviv, egypt, across the border, sued yap, darfur and being denied by the u.s. immigration services as people come to the united states, cabbed i can't, australia -- canada, ause trail yax i want to know how these people now, -- [inaudible] guest: i think what you're referring to, there were very few episodes. we are not talking about a significant number of people. we are talking about people coming across sometimes over the egyptian border or the jordanian border. from the sudan who are trying to cross over. this is really not a major population. they were initially denied, i think. and then israel had made some exceptions to some of them. but i do not believe any of them were incorporated or absorbed as citizens. host: in the first conversation since his speech in cairo the white house confirmed that president obama had a 20-minute conversation with prime minister netanyahu in tel aviv. and either sunday in jews lum -- jerusalem or monday he's expected to deliver his own response to the president's remarks in die -- cairo. what wi

the share one suffering of people seemingly encouraging both dictators, the one who is a ruling in darfur. let us remind ourselves also the situation in iran. i think we are saying be it. america and europe or in germany that we are deeply moved by the fact and also dismayed by the fact how this regime treats peaceful demonstrators. we are for peaceful demonstrations, for freedom of expression, we think is necessary to respect the will of the people and see to its that the election results can and can be reviewed. this immediately touches the issue of respect for human rights and dignity of the individual. doesn't mean this is limited to certain individuals but a universal principle that goes to each and every individual and this is why we are standing shoulder to shoulder with those who fight for their rights. we all of us need to do everything we can in order to see to it that iran does not get a nuclear weapon, does not in possession of that. i very much welcome the readiness of the united states for direct talks. it will be by your side however i should say in making either the talks

in delaware just before tom darfur, our senator was expected to vote the idea was delaware precipitation is rising by 37% that defense occurring more than two inches per hour i am sorry two inches per day over the entire period the interesting thing we had two articles and the paper everybody was up in arms 37% is a significant rise and it is. the only problem when you look at the actual document you will find it really is not statistically significant and they admit that but the delaware populace they have tried to get tom carper to vote for it even in the of publication it was not significant. these are the kind of extremes that we do with. climate of death and the death of our climate is chapter number six. pat talked about this so i will skip that. chapter seven, up versace -- pervasive bias and here is restored to give in to the politics the peer review of the but organizations and did geophysical union have weighed in and remember when the university of oklahoma in 1989 bob carell gave a talk and he said this is a red letter day for the climate scientists everywhere. we will get lo

i led the first delegation in darfur where nearly all the victims of the genocide are muslim. i was the only member of congress to visit chechnya during the fighting in 1995. when i returned i condemned the violence against the people, most of whom are muslim, and called for a cease-fire. i was one of the only members to visit muslim men in a serb run prison where i saw a modern day holocaust taking place. and very early on i began speaking about the ethnic cleansing and cultural genocide against the bosnian people. i said to lift the arms embargo against bosnia so they can defend itself. i visited kosovo five times and i voted and spoke out on the floor to approve the bombing campaign to stop the serbian atrocities against muslims in kosovo. i was one of the first members to raise concerns about the persecution of muslims in china and continued to speak out when few others do. further, i was the author of the international religious freedom act which created the u.s. commission on international religious freedom as well as the international religious freedom office at the sta

then i listened to our friend from texas talk about, from houston, talk about darfur. one of the most troubled spots on the face of the earth, an issue that does need to be addressed and the challenges of meeting the needs of children in texas. very, very important issue. but not as part of a troop funding measure. now, mr. speaker, as i said through the very thoughtful work of the appropriations committee last month, we came to this floor with what president obama and i believe a majority of democrats and republicans in this house would like to see us achieve. and i know the american people would like to see us achieve, and that is bipartisanship. bipartisanship is a word that is used all the time around here, all the time. everyone talks about the need for bipartisanship. how important it is. the speaker in her opening address here as we began the 111th congress talked about how she wanted to work in a bipartisan way. we republicans say we want to work in a bipartisan way, but this bill that emerged from the house appropriations committee was the first time, very fir

i did a story about darfur and i was shocked the amount of people in this country that don't even know what that means. people starving to death. >> host: caller, let's leave it there, and which one of you would like to answer? >> guest: you go ahead. >> guest: i mean, some of the injustices you speak to are certainly things on my mind as well, and what to do. i mean, my response always comes back to, the need for all of us, all of us in this room, all of news this country to open our eyes to not abide the idea that everything is going swimmingly and all we have to do is be passive and let it happen. we have to open our eyes and act and then question offers and won did he wonder if what we have done is effective and then act again. >> host: we have a question here in the audience. >> host: my name is eric and i'm from cleveland, ohio. i'm asking the questions on behalf of those of us in the viewing audience who are scientists or have a strong scientific and mathematics background but not so much in education. who are nearing retirement age and i would like your thoughts about -- we're

there are much worse things you can do to a country than paid as of the sudanese have been proven in darfur and one of the things i wondered is we never hear thank you, a word of thanks the car people forgetting all america paid from the kids in the body casts this shea-porter all the time. not a word of thanks. [laughter] cars provided america with an enviable standard of living. you cannot get a steady job with high wages and health and retirement benefits working on that general livestock corporation assembly line putting others on cows -- it just couldn't be done. and i think that the american car was a source of intellectual stimulation, because you think of the innovation. did the invention, the sheer genius that transformed the 1908 model t ford into the 1968 shelby cobra gt500. in the course of one single human lifetime goal of speeding tickets. [laughter] compare this to progress in the previous mode of transportation. worse production, course design -- unchanged for thousands of years. and you know when it comes to creativity with the horse and did the research on this one riding,

needs a coordinated comprehensive strategy for sudan which balances the united states' imperatives in darfur and in southern sudan. this amendment simply goes one step further by giving the current administration the opportunity to resolve any outstanding issues with regard to the united states' policy towards sudan by formulating such a strategy and reporting this strategy back to the united states congress. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. does anyone seek time? for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? mr. berman: mr. chairman, i rise to take the opposition even though i do not oppose the amendment. the chair: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. berman: mr. chairman, the gentleman's amendment encourages the administration to create a comprehensive interagency strategy and implementation plan for sudan. i have spoken with mr. mccaul about his proposal and agree that developing a coherent approach to this situation in sudan is critical. the united states must make every effort to address the ongoing and interrelat

you're not when to go to darfur and a big investigative piece or you do and nbc did some of that but it's so expensive so you'd rely on newspapers for that and those budgets have been getting caught so even as a tv guy i say the vast majority of investigating in this world gets done by newspapers. was >> well, i am going to make a bold prediction that newspapers are not going to disappear and that if i feel like doing this 20 years from now, i can still do it. i think that's, you know, certainly the economic model that we have all come to identify with the newspaper itself is changing, and certainly we haven't figured out what the result is a man to look like. but i think that there is an enormous appetite what we provide and what nobody else provides frankly. there is, you know, the internet, we were talking about this at lunch. there is a lot on the internet. there is a lot of opinion. there is a lot of commerce but there aren't a lot of facts and there are not a lot of facts easily presented. i think about when my kids to their science projects and, you know, they go on the intern

doc started wine to water after doing some water sanitation work in darfur, sudan, with samaritans first, another exceptional relief works located in boone, north carolina. wine to water was founded on the premise of giving the nor fortunate members of our society -- more fortunate members of our society the opportunity to bring life giving water to people without access to clean drinking water around the world. wine to water which takes its name from the first miracle performed by jesus during his earthly ministry took an otherwise everyday event like a wine tasting and turned it on its head. by using wine events to raise money and awareness about the lack of of clean drinking water in the developing world, doc has harness add powerful social force and multiplied the against ross it of many, including a core of dedicated a.s.u. students who volunteer with wine to water. doc is in essence turning wine to water for some of the neediest people on the planet. the work of wine to water in places like sudan and cambodia has already brought clean water to more than 25,000 people. today doc's e

it champions civil rights, ending the genocide in darfur, aids awareness, and interfaith dialogue and understanding. hillel is also an important campus advocate for israel, educating college students around their country's important relationship with israel. through this outreach and advocacy efforts, hillel communicates to our nation and the world the highest values of the jewish community. mr. speaker, i'd encourage everyone to take a moment and appreciate the contributions made by hillel. i urge my colleagues to pass this resolution. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from washington is recognized. mrs. mcmorris rodgers: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. mrs. mcmorris rodgers: mr. speaker, i rise in support of house resolution 493 which would recognize the significant contributions of hillel: the foundation for jewish campus life to college campus communities in the united states and around the world. hillel