Thread: CAFTA will bolster U.S. national defense

http://www.al.com

CAFTA will bolster U.S. national defense
Tuesday, July 26, 2005

AVOTE against the Central American Free Trade Agreement is a vote against the national security of the United States.

That's what U.S. representatives must understand as they decide later this week whether to approve CAFTA, which will cut taxes on trade to and from the Latin American nations of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and the Dominican Republic.

So far, most of the debate on the trade pact has focused on economic issues. But the economic arguments against CAFTA range from rank exaggerations to utter nonsense to cheap scare tactics. CAFTA will be good for the U.S. economy, and for Alabama's, because it will do far more to cut taxes on U.S. goods going into Latin America than it will to cut taxes on Latin American goods coming here.


Consumers in all countries will benefit from lower prices, and workers in the United States will benefit from a bigger market for goods they produce.

But even if the economics for the United States amounted to a net wash, CAFTA would be essential for our national defense.

"Geopolitically, we need to have closer ties to our friends and neighbors in the hemisphere," said U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama in a July 6 meeting at the Register. Sen. Sessions also noted that four of the CAFTA nations have sent troops to join the U.S. coalition in Iraq.

"There's a huge security component to CAFTA," emphasized Walter Bastian, a deputy assistant secretary for the U.S. Commerce Department, while meeting with the Register editorial board the next day.

At that same meeting, Renee Carter of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce noted that the Nicaraguan Sandinistas -- the brutal commu-

nists who once ruled that nation and who tried to foment revolution throughout Latin America -- are strongly against CAFTA.

Obviously, the Sandinistas want to do all they can to destabilize their nation's alliance with the United States. They recognize that CAFTA will do the opposite, adding stability to an essential strategic partnership.

CAFTA is likewise opposed by Cuba's Fidel Castro and by Venezuela's authoritarian leftist ruler, Hugo Chavez. Neither of them wants to see his Latin American neighbors cozying up to the freedom-loving United States.

It was just 20 years ago, remember, that Cuba and Nicaragua were trying to export Marxist revolutions throughout Latin America. The violent conflicts threatened to engulf the region and destabilize even Mexico -- creating a direct, hemispheric threat to U.S. security.

Since then, most of Latin America had become democratic or at least quasi-democratic, and poverty has declined there as freedom has risen.

CAFTA promises to continue the economic development in the five nations involved. And it is seen by many in those countries as part of a tacit promise by the United States that if they moved toward democracy, North Americans would welcome them as full trading partners.

"The signal that CAFTA's defeat would send is that the United States is not a reliable partner," Otto Reich, President Bush's former special envoy to Latin America, told syndicated columnist Deroy Murdock.

Especially in our own hemisphere, that is the very last signal the United States should be sending. CAFTA is an essential component of a strong Central America -- and a strong Central America means a safer United States.

"A strong Central America means a safer United States?"

Oh, now, I've heard it all.

What a joke!! How can someone write such a bold faced lie? I note there is no author's name. I can certainly understand why.

These Pro-CAFTA CONS will stop at nothing.

I guess we'll have to ask, "Just How Low Will You Go?"

Stop this Nonsense Now. Defeat this Bill Swift and Sure. Take this Evil Work and throw it in the trash; light a match; watch it burn; and NEVER speak of it again.

I told you a long time ago Judy, they will stop at nothing. Oh no, I am so scared. I change my mind about CAFTA, we should pass it...NOT! These people in DC are Whack Jobs

They're not whack jobs--they want to increase profits by exploiting Third World labor and they don't give a damn what happens to us in the process.

Yeah creating a magic carpet on which the chaotic Third World can breeze into our nation is really gonna help "National security." Yeah babe.

Since then, most of Latin America had become democratic or at least quasi-democratic, and poverty has declined there as freedom has risen.

Well, this explains why illegal immigration to this country has dropped to a trickle.

Hey, this is a good one, too.

Consumers in all countries will benefit from lower prices, and workers in the United States will benefit from a bigger market for goods they produce.

Of course, the things we actually produce in this country have been decreasing for years, and those jobs here that do produce things are increasingly going to illegals who work off the books.