One piece of legislation that offers a promising approach is SMART Security: Sensible, Multilateral American Response to Terrorism (SMART) Security Platform for the 21st Century. It provides a more effective national strategy focused on nonproliferation, conflict prevention, international diplomacy, and multilateralism.

Shortly after the election, our good friend Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey gave a speech that articulated the shift in public opinion and the need for a new direction.

"This notion that war begets peace is as illogical as it sounds. Our preemptive strike on Iraq has, in fact, been a catalyst for increased violence and higher rates of terrorism. Our continued occupation is emboldening the insurgents rather than defeating them. Instead of liberating a nation, the Bush doctrine has ripped it apart, ripped it apart at the seams, and instead of protecting America, it has dealt a blow to our very security." Click here to read the whole speech.

SMART Security is better security. We’ve seen that the traditional military only solution is not working in Iraq. SMART Security offers other ways to resolve our differences with other nations. Ask your Representative to co-sponsor vital legislation.

Another argument for a shift in our policy: the American public wants it to happen. Popular opinion does appear to be shifting toward a less militaristic approach to foreign policy.

WAND worked with the 3-D Campaign (defense, diplomacy, and development) to field a poll in October; bottom line was “large majorities of Americans feel that the United States puts too much emphasis on military force and unilateral action. Most say they want their member of Congress to work to shift the emphasis of U.S. foreign policy in favor of diplomacy, multilateral cooperation, and homeland security.” (www.worldpublicopinion.org).

WAND will be working to turn some of these views of the American public into federal policy in the next Congress and beyond.

Why is this man smiling? He's remaking the federal budget -- one dollar at a time. Click here to take action!

FEDERAL BUDGET WATCH

NUCLEAR NOTES

The Bush administration won overwhelming Senate support yesterday for its plan to create a broad strategic partnership with India that reverses decades of U.S. nonproliferation policies and requires changes in laws aimed at limiting the spread of nuclear weapons.

The Senate voted 85 to 12 in favor of legislation that would carve out an India-specific exception to laws that forbid transfers of nuclear technology to countries such as India that have not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Senate passage brings the administration a step closer to completing its deal with India.

U.S. Plan for New Nuclear Weapons Advances
By Walter Pincus | Washington Post | Full article, click here.
October 20, 2006

The United States took another step yesterday toward building a new stockpile of up to 2,200 deployed nuclear weapons that would last well into the 21st century, announcing the start of a multiyear process to repair and replace facilities where they would be developed and assembled and where older warheads could be more rapidly dismantled.

Nuncio: World 'sleepwalking' toward nuclear terrorism
By CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE | October 20, 2006

Four days before North Korea claimed to have tested a nuclear bomb, the Vatican’s representative to the United Nations had warned that the world was “sleepwalking” down the path of nuclear weapons proliferation and increasing the risk of nuclear terrorism.

The United Nations must foster greater international dialogue to ensure compliance with treaties restricting the proliferation of nuclear weapons and banning their testing, said Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican’s U.N. nuncio.

A nuclear fuel bank advocated
By Richard Lugar and Evan Bayh | Chicago Tribune | October 22, 2006
Full article, click here.

...We need a new international non-proliferation standard that prevents countries from using the guise of nuclear energy to develop nuclear weapons.

Unless the international community, led by the U.S., takes this important step, the coming surge in demand for nuclear power will lead more and more nations to seek their own enrichment facilities.

IRAQ UPDATES

Levin: Start pulling troops from Iraq in 4 to 6 months
By William Matthews | Army Times | Full article, click here.

If Sen. Carl Levin has his way, U.S. troops will begin to pull out of Iraq as early as April.

Levin, the incoming chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Nov. 13 that his top priority for his committee is to force President George W. Bush to change direction in the war in Iraq. Levin favors a “phased redeployment,” which he said should begin in four to six months.

The Great Divider
November 2, 2006 | New York Times Editorial

In Mr. Bush’s world, there are only two kinds of Americans: those who are against terrorism, and those who somehow are all right with it. Some Americans want to win in Iraq and some don’t. There are Americans who support the troops and Americans who don’t support the troops. And at the root of it all is the hideously damaging fantasy that there is a gulf between Americans who love their country and those who question his leadership.

Mr. Bush has been pushing these divisive themes all over the nation, offering up the ludicrous notion the other day that if Democrats manage to control even one house of Congress, America will lose and the terrorists will win.