Questions for Karen Hughes

The American Progress Action Fund has done a good job of summarizing
the questions that should be clarified before Karen Hughes is
confirmed for any high office including Under Secretary of State for
Public Diplomacy, a position for which the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee is conducting hearings today. I am posting their summary
below.

John
John E. Cleek, Ph.D., Moderator
http://abetterfutureforall.blogspot.com/

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting
different results."
- Albert Einstein

Questions for Karen Hughes

July 22, 2005

Today, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will take up the
nomination of Karen Hughes to become Under Secretary of State for
Public Diplomacy. At a time when the United States ' reputation in
the international community is eroding, it is vital that our public
diplomacy efforts meet the highest levels of credibility. The Senate
needs to pay keen attention to her role in very questionable ethical
practices by the White House message machine over the past four
years. As Hughes played such an important role in the White House,
there are some important issues that need to be discussed before the
Senate votes on her nomination.

Karen Hughes needs to clarify her involvement in the Valerie Plame
scandal. The New York Times reports this morning that Hughes has been
interviewed by the federal prosecutor investigating the leak of
former covert CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity. In her book, Ten
Minutes From Normal, Hughes discussed the leak, calling it "wrong"
and "unfair." Hughes earlier said the leak was "disruptive to
democracy." Given what we know about Karl Rove's involvement in the
leak, how does Hughes respond to her previous comments that she knew
Rove wasn't involved in the leak because "Karl has said he was not
involved."

Hughes must accept accountability for the manipulation of Iraq
intelligence. Hughes took a leading role in crafting Bush's
statements to convince the American people of the Iraqi threat. Bush
made a number of misleading statements, including saying that Saddam
wanted to "use al-Qaeda as a forward army." The most famous of these
statements was that Iraq was trying to buy uranium from Africa , a
claim made in Bush's 2003 State of the Union address. Hughes was
involved in drafting that speech, and should be asked if she concedes
that these statements were exaggerations.

Finally, Hughes should be asked about her role in smearing critics of
the White House. Former Bush counter-terrorism Chief Richard Clarke
publicly criticized the White house about its counter-terrorism
strategies, and they struck back with a vengeance. The New York Times
reported that Hughes "was an advocate of the howitzer treatment" of
Clarke. The White House released classified information that cast
Clarke in a negative light, but refused Clarke's request to
declassify his correspondence with Rice prior to 9/11.
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