October 20, 2000
To: Friends and Colleagues of the Arms Trade Resource Center
From: Frida Berrigan, Michelle Ciarrocca, Bill Hartung, and Dena Montague
Re: New cover story in The Progressive on the Gore/Lieberman foreign Policy ================================================================
Our project director Bill Hartung has written the cover story for the November issue of The Progressive magazine, a critique of the foreign Policy positions of the Gore/Lieberman presidential ticket.
The story begins by noting that based on the six issues tracked in the voter guides being distributed by Peace Action, the nation's largest grassroots peace group, Bush and Gore are almost equally bad: Bush is 0 for 6 on the progressive foreign Policy issues highlighted by Peace Action, and Gore is 1 for 6. Meanwhile, Ralph Nader, who was excluded from the presidential debates, is a perfect 6 for 6 on the Peace Action scorecard. So much for a vigorous, wide-ranging debate.
The differentiating issue between Bush and Gore -- the Comprehensive Test Ban -- is an important one, to be sure. And the article also argues that the latest Clinton/Gore position on National Missile Defense -- that it's not ready, we needn't rush ahead with it, and that we should respect the ABM treaty and the reactions of other nations before plunging ahead -- is far better than George W. Bush's uncritical embrace of a full-blown, Reaganesque, "Star Wars II" system with interceptors on land, sea, and in the air and outer space as well.
But sadly for progressives, nuclear arms control is the only major area of Policy difference between Gore and Bush (although for liberals like the New York Times' Anthony Lewis who support muscular "humanitarian intervention," Gore is the guy). On sanctions on Iraq and Cuba, military spending, and military intervention (also known as "cluster bomb diplomacy"), Gore and Lieberman are actually more hawkish than Bush and Cheney.
To see the whole article, consult the Progressive's web site at <http://www.progressive.org/wh1100.htm>.
William D. Hartung World Policy Institute 65 Fifth Ave. Suite 413 New York, NY 10003 (212)-229-5808, ext. 106 (212)-229-5579 (fax) hartung at newschool.edu