subcommittee will come to order if the next president presumably in a fit of madness was to ask me what should be done about the middle east as a whole as a region that is vital to the national security interests of the united states a region that is racked by numerous conflicts crises and power struggles and is in the midst of profound transformations in its cultural economic religious and political norms i would cite the wisdom of the great american sage and musician warren's eve on who said send lawyers guns and money do you know what has hit the fan it's hard to provide a more succinct description of the problem or the prescription for fixing it the problems in the region a diverse and complex but our tools for dealing with them are in truth really limited real reality to sending lawyers guns and money though i suggest we not think of these things literally but rather as categories for our assistance and in this light we do have some good tools to work with if there is a will to apply them at the top of the list of problems in the middle east is the question of governance and freedoms from which many of the region troubling phenomena flow the un arab human development reports which describe in painful detail the extent to which the middle east as fallen behind other regions in terms of education health technology and other significant measures of quality of life has cited the lack of freedom as a key factor in these deficits over the long term it is hard to see how the middle east can thrive without a substantial revolution in governance it is neither the right nor the duty of the united states to pick the form of government for any people but ourselves but that does not mean that we have to watch impassively as people in the region struggle for their liberty and demand respect for their civil and human rights neither are we bound to watch in silence as governments with which we cooperate in danger themselves and by extension our common policy goals by alienating their own populations we don't exactly have to send lawyers but we can support the growth of civil society and help build the capacity of others to pursue the rule of law some of our friends might not like it when we support their critics but if we do not help those trying to build a vital liberal center in some of the countries on which we depend we may find a region being led by those who came to power by deploring us and their previous governments partnership with us some of our partners in the region face challenges that are more direct and brutal some states like iraq lebanon and israel are every day struggling against iranian supported terrorist groups the states need more than just our good wishes and sympathy for their dead citizens put bluntly they need guns they need arms and often the proper training to the fly them but they are ready and willing to defend themselves helping them to do so is not only morally right but is prudent policy other states especially those without oil resources but with predominately young and growing populations have significant economic needs that if unmet will fuel the growth of islamic radicalization at best and at worst could stabilize destabilize those countries and even others around them they need money ours and that of our partners in the international community with an interest in a stable peaceful middle east wise investments by ourselves and increased access to the us economy can make a big difference in helping our friends in the region to grow and to thrive very simply we need to send more lawyers guns and money but we need to know which to send where and here is where the problems begin in some places i think the united states is deploying its sources resources wisely i don't think it's a coincidence that these places we have a clear sense of what our money is buying and there is a clear objective which could be achieved by the application of resources for example since the camp david accords the united states has provided tens of billions of dollars in economic and military assistance to israel and egypt are tangible support for the peace made at camp david has linked the two most important militaries in the region to the goodwill of the united states we have prevented any further arab israeli state the state conflicts so the problem of non state proxies has grown and we have shifted the political center of gravity in the region toward peace with israel versus the prior consensus for the total cost of twenty nine years of peace forged at camp david is about one hundred fifty billion dollars that's a lot of money but by comparison the same hundred fifty billion dollars buys us just one of the quarter years of war in iraq if we want to avoid sending our young men and women to the region where they often come home in body bags or without arms legs or mental health then we need to start sending more lawyers guns and money because the problems in the middle east are not going away on their own and they may not be resolved to our liking if we just stand by and watch more than six and a half years after nine eleven supposedly changed everything we still have critical embassies in the middle east that lack sufficient security personnel and vehicles to allow our diplomats to leave the embassy and do their jobs we have shortages of both arab arabic speaking diplomats and translators we have regional partners that are watching iran funds subversion within their borders to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a year and we are debating whether to spend twenty six point one billion dollars on foreign aid and eleven point four billion dollars on the state department that is a combined one point two percent of our three this year this year of crisis and war and looming disaster the bush administration has asked for five point five billion dollars a seventeen percent reduction over the past decade should we assume the bush administration believes that everything in the middle east has gotten seventeen percent better just for comparison in f y two thousand and eight city will spend seven and a half billion dollars just for its police department that's two billion dollars more for peace and security on the streets of the big apple than the united states is going to spend on bringing peace and stability to the entire middle east this kind of budget folly reflects a level of ignorance and pettiness and frivolousness which cannot continue if we're going to protect our nation's security our enemies in the region and al qaida are disciplined and focused and their goals are an amicable to our vital national interests and the security of our country we on the other hand are spending two point four billion dollars a week on the president's misbegotten non ending purposeless war in iraq and can't find one point one billion just to keep the level of funding for the most critical and chaotic region of the world that's quite a legacy we turn now to our ranking member mr p chairman i'm very much looking forward to the testimony of our two very distinguished and marred witnesses and i welcome them to the committee and thank you for calling this important hearing  like anyone looking in mr chairman i find your prescription for what should be done in the middle east as a whole memorable  suggestion of lawyers guns and money to start an interesting conversation i might be prepared to say that our tort system is in need of reform and not export but  but i take your point and your typically provocative manner making it to heart i would offer there's really no substitute for american leadership on the foreign stage foreign  it's an element of soft power in our national arsenal our leadership though is broader than simply considering dollar amounts i'm as you know i'm generally skeptical of government spending especially direct payments to other governments  but i certainly understand why governments like the newly elected one in pakistan desire bilateral aid with no strings attached i believe they should always though be closely linked to our national interest foreign policy and foreign aid go together foreign aid is not philanthropies it must be tied to america's vital national interests the foreign assistance act of one thousand nine hundred eighty one was last reformed in one thousand nine hundred three and c r s reports in the context of this hearing our foreign aid is a hodgepodge covering quote thirty three major objectives seventy five priorities two hundred forty seven directives none of which are prioritized making it less effective in demonstrating a coordinated foreign aid strategy close quote this obviously is a situation crying out for leadership and reform and to what extent state and usa id represented by are two distinguished witnesses here today or on the same page is a vital importance in determining those priorities i'm especially interested in hearing from well as i always am about the specific effects of our aid in the middle east relatively easy cases include our support for israel and jordan as well as most of our spending in iraq and afghanistan i would for reform in places like egypt and pakistan lebanon and in the palestinian territories or is it doing otherwise some time ago there was a phrase popular in this business that gained some currency trade not aid in the current climate it's fallen someone out of fashion in reality trade might advance our national interests in the middle east and worldwide which is why i continue to believe the democratic leadership in this congress should give the president what every previous president in the last few decades has had the upper down vote on a trade pact will leave the us colombia free trade agreement and other central american issues out of this conversation and trade rather than aid is perhaps the best formula for our current worldwide food shortages well dollar amounts or category adjustments of foreign aid are not the last word on national security and sometimes merely arming or even training our allies isn't enough mr chairman i would continue to believe in argue that a victory in the war on terror and standing with our key regional allies like israel go a long way toward advancing our national objectives and make us secure in some ways much more profoundly much more permanently than any amount of traditional a could i'm certain receptive to proposals for streamlining our our foreign assistance perhaps that means increasing funding in some areas i'm very interested in hearing from our witnesses about how aid affects our overall national security i'm not certain it's calibrated perfectly today but but i don't believe we should have this conversation in a vacuum especially when more than two hundred thousand american troops are waging battle in two fronts in that broad region as we speak we must we must calibrate our investments in the region and our foreign assistance against our broader goals in the war on terror and in those theaters of combat that being said i thank the chairman for calling the hearing i thank him for suggesting new solutions new ideas lawyers guns and money and i look forward to our witnesses testimony you didn't say how much you appreciate my not singing it the gentleman who come before us today i think this hearing gives an opportunity as we move toward the end of the bush administration to as you would with any administrations and or move to the end begin to re evaluate what we're doing how we're doing it and whether has in the funding that we've given it over the years has gotten into a much more of a non military strategy of dealing with local areas and trying to assist which is which is all fine i think the action here was that there was in two thousand and one there was seven percent of the budget was for development assistance and snout twenty percent of the budget in two thousand and six is in the form of bilateral official assistance that's a big change and i guess the question that is offered is what kind of coordination strategic coordination is there between state department activities and the military side the problem of defense making sure that we have a  firm line alignment of interests and strategies so that we don't necessarily act inconsistently and most importantly we're ineffective also note that with egypt for example in two thousand and seven there was a memorandum of understanding introduced which tied disbursements united states assistance to the government of egypt to policy reforms in several key areas and i question because it does go to the question of getting money what are we getting in exchange for it obviously egypt has been an ally of interests in establishing some stability with israel and the middle east and we want to continue to support that but again a very large amount of money is being given to egypt every year since the camp david accords and how are we measuring the policy changes or things that we have said in our memorandum or the objectives that we have in cooperation with egypt these are things that are being imposed on egypt as a memorandum memorandum of understanding we're going to continue to support and we have certain expectations that we have discussed with you and hopefully that they are being accomplished so question is what payments are being made in exchange for what outcomes and how effective are we measuring those outcomes and let to talk about that understand exactly what those are and whether that format that procedural form it is something that should be established with other countries where we're providing aid as opposed to just giving and i know we're hearing early this year on iran and there were sixty five million dollars i think being given in efforts with iran and how is that being used and things like that small small dollars compared to other areas but again i think it's a question of we have a we may have a very large interest as we do in the middle east with our friends in the middle east and stability is a key too for a whole lot of reasons for the middle east but if we looked at it objectively today and saw the various strands and and programs and support that we are providing in different areas both military and nonmilitary how consistent are they what picture they presenting not only to the governments but to the people of the middle east  individual countries so mr chairman i appreciate the fact that we're starting this conversation and i think there's a lot of work to be done and as i said i think this is a moment in time where we can between now and the end of this year and whatever the next administration is will have an opportunity to hopefully revisit and make maybe make some of these support programs more efficient with better outcomes thank you mr chairman the chair now if there is a series of votes taking place talk about u s assistance to the middle east i've been very fortunate to visit a number of countries with qatar bahrain kuwait i've visited turkey visited israel each of the countries that i've visited  give me a lot of hope because indeed these are dynamic countries whether whatever their religious background the people who live in those countries have successfully moved into the twenty first century just extraordinary i wish more american citizens could see the popular perception that the people of the middle east want to live in the fourteenth century is not correct people want to live in the twenty first century in fact i represent hilton head island and i've told people that when visiting kota bahrain and kuwait that i feel like i'm visiting hilton head island island on steroids so it again i'm very hopeful indeed as to assistance i our troops indeed are reducing by way of the surge chaos in that country so that they will deny the ability of a safe haven for al qaeda to attack the united states and our allies additionally i have another perspective to my son served in iraq one participated he's army guard member in the distribution of backpacks to two million backpacks were distributed to the young people of iraq so that they could go to school and for the first time young girls had school supplies world class not junk that they could now further their education i wish more people knew about that and then additionally  i just want to thank you for what you're doing and i look forward to working with the chairman on the issue of assistance but i want to thank you for the successes we've had no hope that we can build on these in a region that is so vital  protecting american families thank you very much thank you our colleagues having been brief and in their remarks i have time to introduce the panel to save a little bit of time on the other side  served for two years as charg d'affaires in saudi arabia senior staff positions in the state department the national security council of the numerous diplomatic posts in the middle east embassador well she has just returned from traveling with secretary rice which is the only excuse except for his absence it's a pleasure to welcome him back to the subcommittee we're also very pleased to have with us today george is special assistant for middle east for usa id mistretta henrietta for missed the datto has more than forty five years of experience in international program development and management in the private and public sectors in asia middle east latin america central europe and he leads the middle east bureau for mr eight or four from one nine hundred ninety eight to two thousand and seven mr dato was managing senior vice president of the international health area ninety five and for the bureau program and policy coordination from one thousand nine hundred eight to nine hundred ninety and we're pleased to have him with us today as previously announced we're in the midst of a series of five votes one will be a fifteen minute vote the other five minutes votes at two minutes to each of those as is traditional ten minutes of the motion to recommit that's in the middle which will be a fifteen minute vote preceded by ten minutes of debate so you add that all up and it seems to me we got at least one hour so those of you who want to stretch feel free to do so get breakfast and we will return in approximately one hour and begin with about the twelve committee stands recessed