Good for him. I "knew" Lugar when I worked on the Hill (meaning, I'd been to a slew of meetings and foreign trips with him, so he knew me by name). He's a very good guy, and smart. Particularly impressive, of late, is that he's not been afraid to publicly criticize the Bushies on their abysmal foreign policy.
Reuters: The United States risks "catastrophic terrorism" unless it repairs international alliances, expands trade and encourages global economic development, a top Republican lawmaker said in remarks to be delivered on Saturday.
U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, criticized the Bush administration and Congress for failing to take diplomatic and economic steps to deter terrorism and focusing on military force instead.
Lugar said the Sept. 11 attacks "jarred the United States out of its complacency toward foreign threats."
But he said the "ability and will to exert U.S. leadership outside the confines of military action have been eroded by inattention, budget incrementalism, and an increasing partisanship that afflicts foreign policy decision-making."
He said the country must "commit itself to a sustained program of repairing and building alliances, expanding trade, pursuing resolution to regional conflicts, supporting democracy and development worldwide, and controlling weapons of mass destruction."
If not, he said, "we are likely to experience acts of catastrophic terrorism that would undermine our economy, damage our society, and kill hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people."
