Senators Endorse New Clinton Role
http://www.truthout.org:80/011509T
Hillary Clinton has been endorsed as President-elect Barack Obama's
secretary of state by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The final vote on her appointment will be taken in the Senate
after the inauguration of Mr Obama on January 20.
During the hearing, Mrs Clinton promised a departure from the
foreign policy of the Bush administration.
Meanwhile, the nominee for attorney-general described the
interrogation technique of waterboarding as torture.
Eric Holder's statement during his Senate confirmation hearing
about the harsh tactic, which simulates drowning, is a clear break
from the Bush administration.
Attorney General Michael Mukasey and his predecessor, Alberto
Gonzales, both said the US did not torture detainees, but stopped
short of saying whether that term included waterboarding.
The CIA has admitted using the technique on at least three
terrorism suspects, including the alleged mastermind of the 9/11
attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Mr Holder, who could become the first African-American US
attorney
general, faces some opposition from Republican members of the panel.
He has come under criticism for his role in advising former
President Bill Clinton to pardon in 2001 the fugitive financier, Marc
Rich, whose wife had donated money to Mr Clinton's presidential
library.
During Thursday's hearing, Mr Holder reiterated that he regretted
not studying the pardon more closely at the time.
"New" Policy
The Senate Foreign Relations committee voted in favour of Mrs
Clinton's appointment by 16 to one.
The BBC's Kim Ghattas in Washington says the one vote against Mrs
Clinton came as no surprise.
David Vitter, a Republican senator from Louisiana, had sparred
with her on Tuesday as he prodded her about her husband's non-profit
foundation and his foreign donors, our correspondent says.
In a statement issued shortly after the vote, Senator Vitter
called the foundation a "multi-million dollar minefield of conflicts
of interest."
"This could produce explosions at any minute, particularly
concerning the Middle East where we least need them," he added.
There are concerns about a conflict of interest among other
members, our correspondent adds, but the chairman of the committee,
Senator John Kerry, said he was confident Mrs Clinton would give
those
concerns full consideration.
Mrs Clinton has agreed to publish an annual list of the
foundation's donors and alert ethics officials to potential conflicts
of interests, which she says goes above and beyond what existing
regulations demand.
The former first lady is expected to give her farewell speech to
the Senate later on Thursday.
Speaking before the committee on Tuesday, she said US leadership
in the world had been "wanting but was still wanted", and that the
incoming administration's foreign policy would be a mix of
diplomatic,
economic and military tools.
"America cannot solve the most pressing problems on our own, and
the world cannot solve them without America," said the New York
senator.
"We must use what has been called 'smart power', the full range
of
tools at our disposal," she added.
"With 'smart power', diplomacy will be the vanguard of foreign
policy."
She also said that ending the war in Iraq was a priority, and
that
the new US government wanted to lift travel restrictions on Americans
with families in Cuba.
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
