In a presentation as the Manatt-Phelps Lecture in Political Science at
Iowa State University on Tuesday, Oct. 31, U.S. Senator Joseph Biden (D-Delaware)
discussed what he terms as two connected but distinct challenges the United
States faces.
"How we deal with each (the so-called "Axis of Evil" and
"Axis of Oil") will go a long way toward shaping America's security
over the next decades," Biden said.
Biden had specific ideas on how the U.S. government should deal with
the "Axis of Evil" nations - Iraq, North Korea and Iran. In
Iraq Biden said the U.S. should promote a similar plan to what succeeded
in Bosnia in the late '90s.
"It would keep Iraq together by providing each group breathing room
in their own regions, getting Sunni buy-in by giving them a piece of the
oil revenues, creating a major jobs and reconstruction program to deny
the militia new recruits and bringing in Iraq's neighbors to support the
political process," Biden said the the capacity crowd in the Memorial
Union's Sun Room. "If we do all that, we have a chance to bring most
of our troops home by the end of 2006, without leaving chaos behind."
In North Korea, the Delaware senator suggested that the U.S. needs to
choose what's more important - a change in conduct or a change in regime.
"We won't get the former, if we remain fixated on the later,"
the ranking Democrat on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Biden said the U.S. should focus on a sea-based defense against medium-range
missiles that North Korea possesses and that could hit Japan. He also
said he would propose legislation when Congress returns that would hold
North Korea responsible for any use of a nuclear weapon, by any group,
that the U.S. can trace to them.
He also suggested that the same basic approach he's proposing for North
Korea would work for Iran as well.
"We should talk directly to Tehran," he said. "Talking
would not reward bad behavior or legitimize the government. It would allow
us to make clear to Tehran - and to the Iranian people - what it can get
for giving up its weapons program and what it risks if it retains it."
As for the "Axis of Oil," Biden says the recent drop in gas
prices in the U.S. can mask the fact that the nation's oil dependence
is threatening national security and undermining the effectiveness of
foreign policy.
"More than any factor, it limits our options and our influence around
the world, because oil rich countries pursuing policies we oppose can
stand up to us, while oil-dependent allies may be afraid to stand with
us," he said.
Instead of energy independence, Biden suggested the U.S. should be talking
about energy security.
"We should be developing and exporting our clean technologies -
like clean coal and biofuels - to those fast-growing economies,"
he sid. "We can do this. Right here in Iowa you're already making
a contribution. We can avoid another oil crisis and we don't need to wait
for hydrogen cars or next generation technology to succeed. We have the
technology to make these changes today."
Biden proposed a four-step plan to energy security.
- Increase the number of vehicles that can run on homegrown biodiesel
or E85 to 100 percent by 2016.
- Require that half of all gas stations operated by major companies
in the U.S. have alternative fuel pumps.
- Encourage the production of home grown fuels so that by 2020 30 billion
gallons of ethanol could be produced.
- Increase the fuel economy standards of vehicles by one mile per gallon
per oil. He says that by doing that it would reduce the oil used in
the transportation sector by 10 percent.
Biden's
Prepared Text
Sen. Joseph Biden meets with students after lecture
Sen. Joseph Biden with Ambassador Charles Manatt
Sen Joseph Biden
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