Democrats Chew Out Bush & Co.

By Hilmi Toros

The U.S. government’s policy on environmental issues came under severe criticism at the World Summit yesterday -- this time from influential U.S. Democrats. They even claimed that the official U.S. delegation did not represent the views of the majority of Americans.

In a sudden and hastily called press conference before the beginning of official proceedings, three key members of the so-called “U.S. Congressional delegates” said the Bush administration is “retrenching on its environmental policies”.

Three Democratic congressmen -- Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, Earl Blumenauer of Oregon and George Miller of California -- pledged their support to U.N. principles on sustainable development and called on Americans to do likewise.

“We are calling on the Bush administration to reconsider its position and to affirm participation with the global community to meet the challenges of our changing global climate and to come up with constructive solutions which will mitigate and reverse the destruction of our common global habitat,” Congressman Kucinich said.

“As the richest nation in the world and the world’s largest polluter,” noted Congressman Blumenauer, “the United States has a special opportunity and obligation to deal with greenhouse-gas emissions”.

Congressman Miller called on Americans to support the Brazilian proposal of obtaining 10 percent of energy from renewable sources by 2010. He said, “It is false to think that you will lose your job to protect the environment.”

Observers noted that it is not unusual for U.S. congressional leaders to dissent from official U.S. policy at major international meetings, although strong anti-administration statements in press conferences are rare.

The call for “U.S. environmental responsibility”, issued by the three congressmen and former California Governor Jerry Brown (now Mayor of Oakland), stemmed from the Bush administration’s rejection of the principles of the Kyoto protocol and its alleged reluctance to commit significant financial resources for renewable energy.

But the attack on the administration went far beyond environment policies. The congressmen, claiming that the “U.S. public is ahead of its government”, said the United States should be a part of multilateral activities, rather than adopting a go-it-alone policy.

“They are interested only in what they are interested in,” Miller said. “We have to think about the interest of others if we want their cooperation against terrorism. It can’t be U.S. agenda over and over again.”

“There are two Americas,” Mayor Brown said, portraying one as the America of George Bush, “isolationist and negative on the environment”, and the other of the American people, interested in the environment.