A bipartisan group of four US senators has asked President George W. Bush to act against allies who damage American national security interests by arming extremist regimes. The senators’ letter, which concerns what to do about Venezuela after diplomacy has failed, echoes policy recommendations that an IWP professor made a month ago.
Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security; Senator Johnny Isaakson (R-Ga.), Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), and Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) told President Bush in the June 5 letter that the Venezuelan regime is a threat to democracy and to US interests in Latin America, and that Spain’s sale of military transport aircraft to Caracas only worsens the problem.
The senators endorsed an approach that Professor J. Michael Waller first proposed in a May 2 paper, “When our allies arm our adversaries: What to do when diplomacy fails.”
“Foreign military manufacturers should not be rewarded for undermining our national security,” Waller said in a June 7 press statement. “The senators want foreign defense manufacturers to make a choice: Support the United States or support our adversaries, but don’t do both.”