Marcy Kaptur: “before this war starts, we should recognize that the Bush administration foreign policy toward the Middle East and…”

“before this war starts, we should recognize that the Bush administration foreign policy toward the Middle East and central Asia is leading America down a dangerous, dark alley globally. It is isolating America in the world even further. Even before the Bush administration took office, America had a growing problem there related to the unresolved Arab-Palestinian conflict as well as our addiction to the import of Middle East oil from which the profits prop up repressive regimes. This chart shows the dramatic increase in deaths among U.S. diplomats in service to our country overseas. Most of them are in the Middle East and central Asia and most in the Middle East. It is very interesting. Here were the Beirut bombings in 1983 at our embassy, the Kenya bombings. This chart does not include now the millions of people that have been affected and the thousands of Americans here at home who lost their lives on 9-11, as well as diplomats like Lawrence Foley who recently was assassinated in Jordan or the soldiers who recently lost their lives in Kuwait. In 2 years, Bush's programs have reduced America's standing in the world, plummeting even more than before. The conduct of the Bush administration foreign policy is costing America friends across the world. Even our oldest and staunchest allies in the cause of freedom are turning away from us. Our neighbors, Canada and Mexico, are increasingly at odds with this administration's foreign policy goals.”