Hill Faces Delicate Decisions in Assigning Foreign Aid

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Hill Faces Delicate Decisions in Assigning Foreign Aid

 

By Dan Morgan

Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, November 2, 2001; Page A23

 

As Congress nears completion of a $15.1 billion foreign aid spending bill, it is walking a tightrope between staying true to long-held positions and showing support for several autocratic regimes that are cooperating with the U.S. war on terrorism.

 

The Senate version of the bill, for example, contains a human rights requirement for Uzbekistan that some House Republicans fear could infuriate the Central Asian country's volatile strongman, President Islam Karimov, at a time when his support for the U.S. war effort is critical.

 

At the same time, a Senate provision that allows the Bush administration to temporarily suspend a nine-year ban on U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan has split the Armenian American community and created a quandary for the 105 House members in the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues.

 

The aid embargo has been the top priority for pro-Armenian lawmakers since Azerbaijan's war with Armenia intensified in 1991 and 1992. But it has been steadfastly opposed by U.S. administrations, which have sought to cultivate closer ties with Azerbaijan, a potential major new source of oil outside the Middle East.

 

In a recent letter to Senate leaders, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell appealed for the ban to be set aside, citing Azerbaijan's help in providing overflight rights, air bases and critical intelligence.

 

He warned that the ban could impede U.S. efforts to work with the Caspian Sea nation's intelligence and law enforcement agencies, and could even limit its cooperation in tracking and disrupting financial assets of the terror network.

 

A Senate compromise, drafted with the help of pro-Armenian Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Paul S. Sarbanes (D-Md.), suspends the ban only through the end of 2002. It also provides $4 million in military aid to Armenia and $600,000 for military training assistance.

 

One major organization, the Armenian Assembly of America, is supporting what it calls the "balanced and limited" action taken by the Senate. "It is critical that we fully support the U.S.-led military effort" against terrorism, the assembly said in a press release.

 

But another group, the Armenian National Committee of America, is lobbying for changes, including a ban on use of the U.S. military aid for aggressive actions against Nagorno-Artsax, an ethnically mixed part of Azerbaijan that was occupied by Armenia during the war.

 

The Senate action "sends a signal to Azerbaijan that the U.S. is retreating from its concern about the security of Nagorno-Artsax," said Aram Hamparian, the group's executive director.

 

Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), cochair of the Armenian caucus, issued a statement last month terming the Powell letter "unfortunate" and warning that lifting U.S. sanctions "will give Azerbaijan the green light and the means to renew its aggression against Armenia and Nagorno-Artsax."

 

The changed foreign policy environment on Capitol Hill is also evident in Congress's receptivity to removing U.S. sanctions that have been tied to the nuclear weapons program of Pakistan, now a key ally in the battle against the Taliban.

 

Members are also looking the other way as 65,000 tons of new U.S. wheat aid destined for Afghanistan heads for Iranian ports. Virtually all direct and indirect U.S. commerce with Iran has been prohibited for years by the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act. But the United Nations' World Food Program began using Iranian ports last summer to unload wheat for transshipment to Afghan tribes. The wheat is bagged and given U.S. labels in Iran itself.

 

When House and Senate negotiators begin trying to harmonize their versions of the foreign aid bill, they will also have to deal with the difficult issue of human rights abuses by Uzbekistan, an Afghanistan neighbor. Karimov has permitted the U.S. military to base key air rescue units in his country.

 

The Senate provision, sponsored by Paul D. Wellstone (D-Minn.) and approved without opposition, requires the State Department to report to Congress within three months on the kinds of defense articles provided to Uzbek armed forces, border guards, or security forces and to state whether any of those entities have engaged in human rights abuses.

 

Wellstone acknowledged that Uzbekistan was vitally important in the war on terrorism, adding that human rights abuses there pose "a real dilemma for us."

 

The U.S. government has linked the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan to Osama bin Laden and included it on its list of terrorist organizations. But, according to the most recent State Department report on human rights, Uzbekistan has responded to the threat of terrorism by arresting "hundreds of Islamic leaders and believers on questionable grounds."

 

Wellstone, whose father left the Ukraine to escape persecution of Jews, said it was "terribly important that we not uncritically align ourselves with governments which torture citizens." He laid out details of torture and beatings by Uzbek security forces, citing a 2001 report by Human Rights Watch that said hundreds of dissidents and Muslims endured "beatings . . . electric shock, temporary suffocation, hanging by the ankles or wrists, removal of fingernails, and punctures with sharp objects."

 

Nonetheless, the Senate language has made some House officials nervous, given Karimov's sometimes prickly relations with Washington, which have included stormy sessions with visiting members of Congress concerned about his human rights record.

 

© 2001 The Washington Post Company

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...0-2001Nov1.html