The Foreign Service Journal, December 2004

was regarded as less of an internation- al menace than the fundamentalist mullahs in Tehran. He won U.S. sup- port during that period even though his military slaughtered countless Iraqi Kurds; 5,000 were killed by poison gas at Halabja on March 16, 1988. Not wishing to offend an ally, the Reagan administration paid little heed to the massacre. It was not until after Saddam’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait that American officials began citing the slaughter as an example of Saddam’s malevolence. It has been used repeat- edly by the Bush administration as a justification for Saddam’s removal from power. And each March 16, the State Department issues an anniversary statement denouncing the atrocities. Change Ahead? With the Bush electoral victory, we can expect little change in the human rights agenda. Interestingly, a Kerry victory may not have produced a marked change either. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said relatively little about human rights or democracy promotion during his unsuccessful campaign for the White House. But he sent a signal last May that he does not embrace mainstreamDemo- cratic Party thinking on human rights. He told the Washington Post that pur- suit of non-proliferation goals in Russia and Pakistan is more important than protection of human rights. And in China, he said, the primary U.S. objective should not be improving human rights but integrating that country into the world economy. Kerry may have been influenced by his father, Richard Kerry, who spent some 15 years in the Foreign Service, mostly working on European issues. In his 1990 book, The Star- Spangled Mirror: America’s Image of Itself and the World , the senior Kerry wrote: “The struggle to put policy in touch with reality was difficult enough before the siren song of promoting human rights.” Still, the senator said he supported some U.S. actions with a strong human rights dimension, for instance, in Kosovo and Bosnia. He also called for decisive U.S. steps to end the abuses in Darfur. In the final analysis, the balancing act that has characterized the past four years — wherein human rights are an important aspect of America’s relations with the rest of the world, but seldom the deciding factor — will continue. D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 4 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 55 U.S. security concerns have often been at odds with human rights goals. * per night, single or double occupancy subject to availability Y our search is over, choose a hotel where the federal per diem rate is available year-round. * Luxurious Suites All rooms with full size kitchen & stove tops Fitness center Complimentary in-room coffee Full service restaurant Parking available Across fromMain State White House, The Mall, and Metro Foggy Bottom station (blue & orange lines) within walking distance Accommodations State Plaza Hotel 2117 E. St. NW Washington, DC 20037 Telephone: (800) 424-2859 (202) 861-8200 Parking Available Rated 1 / 2 by AAA www.stateplaza.com E-mail: reservations@stateplaza.com