Foreign Affairs Hearing on Future U.S. Commitments to Iraq

March 4, 2008
Blog Post
The Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia and the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight are currently holding a hearing, "Declaration and Principles: Future U.S. Commitments to Iraq." This is the latest in a series of hearings out of the Foreign Affairs Committee on this issue, see highlights of the February 8th hearing, as well as related questioning during a February 6th Armed Services Committee hearing. Today's hearing will include witnesses from the State and Defense Departments as well Oona Hathaway of Yale Law School and Lawrence Korb of the Center for American Progress.

Watch the hearing live >>

Chairman Gary Ackerman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia gives opening remarks:

Chairman Ackerman: "Describing the proposed agreement as 'merely routine,' is, I believe, disingenuous at best. There is nothing routine about it or the situation in Iraq. And trying to dampen concerns in Congress by suggesting that the Declaration doesn't mean everything that it says suggests that either the Administration doesn't understand English, or has deliberately misled the Iraqis. Neither interpretation is flattering."

Chairman Gary Ackerman questions David Satterfield, Senior Adviser to the Coordinator for Iraq at the U.S. Department of State:

Chairman Ackerman:

"I mean I read a part of your resume which is very, very impressive, and I know that some time you might have read the Constitution, I'm sure you've read it many times. Is it your contention that the Administration has to or does not have to consult with Congress, it's a very simple question which is the nexus of the whole hearing. And we can either answer that question of whether or not that is a Constitutional requirement in your view, or the view of the Administration, or it's not. Otherwise, everything else is hyperbole. And you've not answered the question."