Good news from Frank Gaffney on the United Nations Convention Law of the Sea Treaty (UNCLOS or LOST). Seems as though there can at times be a semblance of sanity at least with some Senate Republicans.  I haven’t heard that there are any Senate Democrats who have retained their sanity.

Media Coverage is LOST

According to Senator Jon Kyl, the entire Senate Republican leadership is now opposed to a controversial treaty supported by the president and an implausible alliance of special interests – from the U.S. Navy to Greenpeace. At a joint press conference last Wednesday, he was one of several Senators to declare that, as a result, supporters would be unable to muster the necessary 67 votes for ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). Yet, it seems not one of the “establishment” media organs felt moved to report these momentous political developments.

More extraordinary still is the apparent news-blackout concerning the fact that virtually every Republican presidential candidate (with the surprising, and hopefully ephemeral, exception of Rudy Giuliani) has announced either outright opposition to the Treaty or deep misgivings about its inevitable effect: conferring more power on international organizations at the expense of U.S. sovereignty. Apart from a front-page article in the Washington Times last Friday and postings by an array of on-line news outlets, bloggers and a couple of newsletters, the so-called “mainstream media” have denied the American people virtually any information about LOST’s growing difficulties.

The seemingly deliberate suppression of bad news concerning an accord favored by the elite is being compounded by a similar lack of transparency on the part of the Senate itself. The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has scheduled a panel vote on LOST for Wednesday – ignoring a request from one of his colleagues, Sen. David Vitter, for additional hearings and additional testimony from those opposed to the Treaty.

Unfortunately, the Senate Foreign Relations record retains only that testimony which is supportive of this treaty. The other interesting note regarding this treaty and the Senate…

It might seem unimaginable that Bush Administration officials, such as Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and State Department Legal Advisor John Bellinger, could get away with dissembling before a Senate committee led by a Democrat who wants to be considered a serious contender for the presidency. Perhaps that is happening because Sen. Biden could not find the time to attend either of the two hearings he called concerning the Treaty. Neither for that matter did the panel’s two other active presidential candidates, Democrats Barak Obama and Chris Dodd. Don’t bother them with the facts. Let’s vote.

snip….As things stand now, the Foreign Relations Committee’s inaccurate and unbalanced record will be the only public one Senators have to go on. Formal requests made by Sen. Jim Inhofe, a senior member of the Senate’s Armed Services and Environment and Public Works committees, asking them to examine the Treaty’s myriad repercussions for matters within their jurisdiction are going unanswered. The same is true of similar appeals made to those and six of the Senate’s other committees with relevant areas of responsibility by the Coalition to Preserve American Sovereignty

Looks like the all important Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has the same lackluster approach….

Then there is the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. It did manage to hold a hearing on LOST, but it was a classified session and only featured official witnesses. Unsurprisingly, all of them supported ratification. What is surprising, though, is Chairman Jay Rockefeller’s uncharacteristic acceptance at face value of representations by executive branch officials like Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell. Based on such testimony, Sen. Rockefeller recently signed a letter with GOP Vice Chairman Kit Bond declaring that U.S. adherence to the Treaty would have no negative implications for U.S. intelligence. While there are strong arguments to the contrary, like Mr. Biden, Sen. Rockefeller has no time for a second opinion that might produce inconvenient truths.

Technorati Tags: LOST, UNCLOS, Frank Gaffney, Biden, Obama, Dodd, Foreign Relations Committee, United Nation

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