White House worried time running out on Colombia deal

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

White House worried time running out on Colombia deal
Tue Mar 11, 2008 1:48pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration can not allow Congress to run out the clock on free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea by delaying votes on the pacts, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday.

"We want to do this in a bipartisan way. We want to do this together. But I'll tell you, we can not run out of time," U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez told reporters. "What has always worried us about this approach is that we're simply allowing the clock to be, to be run out."

The statement was the closest a Bush administration official has come to saying the White House was intent on submitting the agreements to Congress, even if it can not work out a deal with House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to pave the way for a vote on the three trade pacts.

Pelosi has insisted that Colombia make more progress reducing violence against trade unionists and bringing murderers to justice before Congress votes on that pact.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1159836220080311

[Joanne98]

1. GOOD!

[tripitaka]

4. so president obama will sign it, not bush

I mean seriously is there a single person here who thinks Clinton, Obama, and McCain all 3 wouldn't sign this into law in their first year, and that Dems and Repubs alike will all come together to get it done as soon as the election cycle is over?

I mean hell these treaties could have been written by Austan Goolsbee or Bill Clinton.

[papau]

7. I agree

[bemildred]

2. Limp, quack, limp, quack, ... nt

[jody]

3. Proof that fast-track for trade agreements are dangerous to We the People.

"The Fast track negotiating authority (also called Trade Promotion Authority, TPA) for trade agreements is the authority of the President of the United States to negotiate agreements that the Congress can approve or disapprove but cannot amend or filibuster. Fast-track negotiating authority is granted to the president by Congress. It was in effect pursuant to the Trade Act of 1974 from 1975 to 1994 and was restored in 2002 by the Trade Act of 2002. It expired at midnight on July 1, 2007."

[steven88]

5. What? Only Bush gets to pocket veto??? n/t

[Dr.Phool]

6. "I want to do this in a bi-partisan way".

"Just do what the fuck I tell you, and we'll be bi-partisan. You know. like date-rape".

[Judi Lynn]

8. Coca-Cola, Nestle, Chiquita on 'trial' in Colombia

Coca-Cola, Nestle, Chiquita on 'trial' in Colombia
By Constanza Vieira

~snip~
Employment is becoming increasingly precarious in Colombia, and the terror exercised by the extreme right-wing paramilitaries further limits labor rights. This has led to growing profits for the US corporations Chiquita Brands and Coca-Cola and the Switzerland-based Nestle, according to the PPT, whose two-day hearing on Colombia occurred on Apr. 2.
(snip)

The Russell Tribunal, which was designed to investigate and draw attention to war crimes committed by US forces during the Vietnam War, held sessions on that war in 1966 and 1967, and on military dictatorships in Latin America in 1974 and 1975.
(snip)

The PPT's main accusation against the three companies is that in Colombia they have engaged in practices that violate the most basic human rights, through connections with paramilitary networks, under the guise of protecting their investments and ensuring security.

Victims of human rights violations and relatives of victims gave their testimony in the public hearing. Some of the cases discussed involved the murders of trade unionists, 10 of whom worked for Nestle and nine of whom worked for Coca-Cola.

Colombia is the most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists, who are frequent paramilitary targets. Although private armed groups have long existed in Colombia, today's paramilitary groups emerged in the early 1980s, financed by landowners to fight the leftist guerrillas, who were kidnapping and extorting wealthy ranchers. The collaboration between paramilitaries and the armed forces has been well documented by the United Nations, the US State Department, and Colombian government investigators, who hold the paramilitaries responsible for the lion's share of the atrocities committed in Colombia's four-decade civil war. The two main leftist rebel groups, the powerful Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the smaller National Liberation Army (ELN), both emerged in 1964. The government of right-wing President Álvaro Uribe, who took office in 2002, negotiated a controversial demobilization of many of the groups making up the paramilitary umbrella organizations, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), many of whose top leaders are drug traffickers.
(snip)

But according to the National Trade Union School (ENS), a research center founded in 1982 by academics and trade unionists in the Colombian city of Medellín, 70 members of trade unions were killed last year. Two hundred-sixty received death threats, 56 were arbitrarily detained, seven were injured in bomb attacks, 32 were persecuted for their labor activism, eight were forced to flee their homes, and three were forcibly disappeared.

Those who report the persecution of trade unionists and attempt to draw attention to their plight are in turn accused of being guerrilla sympathizers, according to the PPT.

More:
http://www.theglobalreport.org/print.php?news_id=561

[Judi Lynn]

9. US-Colombia trade deal faces uncertainty

US-Colombia trade deal faces uncertainty
By James Politi and Daniel Dombey in Washington

Published: March 11 2008 20:08 | Last updated: March 11 2008 20:08

The US administration is facing a key decision on whether to submit a contentious free trade agreement with Colombia for approval by Congress, in a move that could dramatically ratchet up the debate over US trade policy.

Over the past 10 days, administration officials and congressional staffers have intensified their negotiations over the terms of a deal that would bring the Colombian agreement to a vote with the support of Democratic ­lawmakers, who hold the majority.

But people close to the talks say that unless the considerable distance between the sides is bridged in the coming weeks, the White House is likely to pursue what it has claimed would be its least preferred option – forcing Congress to consider the deal without having guaranteed bipartisan support.

A high-profile standoff between the administration and Congress over trade would come at a time when US trade policy is being hotly debated in the race for the presidency, with both Democratic candidates, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, signaling that they would seek to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.

More:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b8b69b86-ef9b-11dc-8a17-0000779fd2ac.html

[LynnTheDem]

10. "We wanna do this in a bipartisan way...as long as you all agree with what I want!"

George bUsh's "double-speak".