Biden released an important national security document that nobody seems to know about because they are obsessed with bullshit as usual:
Here’s the whole thread:
🧵Sen. Chris Van Hollen praises new national security memorandum issued by the President, saying it models provisions in an amendment he offered with 18 colleagues. It does 3 things, he says: It said that we should make sure that US security assistance is aligned with our values and it specifically said that we are finding a way to ensure that recipients of US military assistance will comply with international humanitarian law and with international law as applicable.
The other major provision in our amendment was that recipients of US security assistance of military assistance will cooperate in the provision of humanitarian assistance in areas of conflict where they are using U.S.-provided weapons.
And third, we had robust reporting requirements. To hold accountable countries for those commitments, as well as require reporting on some other things. And all of the these key elements from the amendment have now been incorporated into the national security memorandum issued by the President.
It requires all recipients of US military assistance to provide written assurance that they will comply with international humanitarian law and other international law as applicable.
In other words, as a condition of receiving US military assistance, they will now promise in writing that they will comply with international humanitarian law and other international law as applicable.
…Number two, as a condition of receiving US military assistance, every country will agree to provide credible assurances in writing, that they will help facilitate US supported humanitarian assistance in the areas of conflict where they’re using US weapons, ¬ arbitrarily deny or restrict the provision of such humanitarian assistance.
..as part of that component, enforcement provisions contained in the national security memorandum that require that if there’s a violation of those promises, that the Secretary of State must report to the president within seven days, and there are a menu of options available to the President to enforce those provisions.
And promises a whole range of things, including suspending US security assistance to a country that is in a violation of those commitments, and that that report needs to also be made to Congress.
Third, and very importantly, for accountability purposes, this requires that the executive branch, the Defense Department & the State Department, provide a report to the US Congress on a whole range of important measures starting with a report on whether any of the recipient countries have violated their commitments under the first part, in other words, commitment to comply with international humanitarian law or if they violated their commitments to help facilitate US supported humanitarian assistance into these conflict zones.
It asks for a determination on each of those measures on the issue. They’ve asked for a determination on the issue of whether or not international humanitarian law has been violated.
It also importantly asks for an assessment and analysis of the extent to which any recipient country is using American weapons in a manner that’s inconsistent with best practices for preventing civilian casualties and civilian harm, & specifically references an ongoing effort by the Defense Department to develop civilian harm reduction strategies.
..in our amendment, we applied it to every recipient of security assistance in the supplemental. Our goal has been all along to expand this universally. To every country that receives US security assistance. In other words, this is a very important and dramatic new policy that will be applied worldwide, going forward.
One other point I should make with respect to the reporting requirements, Is that the reporting prioritizes a report within 90 days on any area where US weapons are being used in the conflict zone.
So that would cover Ukraine, it would cover the situation in Gaza.
It would cover other areas around the world where US weapons are being used in conflict zones. That report is due within 90 days.
And very importantly, it covers a reporting period on the use of US weapons in those conflict zones, starting on January 1 of 2023.
So the report on the use of US weapons in these conflict zones will cover all of 2023 and 2024.
Up until the time that the report is issued. So when you take these 3 pieces together—the upfront written promises required in every country that receives US military assistance that they comply with international humanitarian law and other international law that’s applicable,
The second promise that they will help facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid into conflict zones and not arbitrarily restrict the ability to distribute humanitarian aid; when you take into account the enforcement mechanisms; and very importantly, when you take into account the reporting requirements, which will give us the information on facts as to whether or not these..promises are being kept— if you take that together, this is in my view a historical step that will much better align US security assistance with American values.
We’re pleased that the Biden administration decided to issue this national security memorandum modeled after our amendment. & because we’ve succeeded in getting the provisions of the amendment adopted as a matter of US government policy, we will no longer be seeking a vote on the amendment, because we’ve accomplished our goal now with the assistance of the President and his administration.
The first round of commitments that need to be made are by countries currently engaged in armed conflict conflict; they have to be made within a period of 45 days.
This national security memorandum will give the Biden administration much more leverage to ensure that every recipient of US military assistance, including the Netanyahu government, has to make the commitment to use those weapons in compliance with international humanitarian law they have to make the commitment to facilitate U.S.-supported efforts to provide the delivery of humanitarian assistance. And there are the enforcement measures…& they’re backed up by reporting requirements that will hold these countries accountable.
So I do believe that this will give the Biden administration much more leverage to…have the tools now to reduce the unacceptable, high, extreme levels of civilian casualties, & remove many of the roadblocks that are in the way of getting humanitarian assistance to 2 million Gazans who have nothing to do with Hamas.
With respect to the President’s comments (that Israel conduct of the war in Gaza has been “over the top”), I share his view. I have said from the very beginning, that what happened on October 7 was a horrific attack. …the Government of Israel has not only the right but the duty to defend itself and make sure there are no more October 7s. I’ve also said that a just war still needs to be waged justly and that in Gaza, we’ve seen extremely high..levels of civilian casualties, unacceptable levels of civilian casualties.
We now have over 27,000 Palestinians killed, over two thirds of them, women and children.
And we also have seen continued political obstacles put in the way of getting desperately needed humanitarian assistance to innocent people in need.
So I’m glad that the President will now have these additional tools to use to backup U.S…urgings and pleas, and I’m really glad that these tools will be available worldwide and applied to any recipient of US military assistance.
…I do want to end where I started, by thanking President Biden, & thanking his team for this effort, where they translated our amendment into this national security memorandum and we’ve gone through the different elements of it.
And I just want to again thank them because it’s been a long, but good conversation with them….Earlier, 26 of us had written to the President expressing a very expressing a variety of concerns about what was happening in Gaza and posing a lot of questions, and the administration..reached out and following up on that, we had a number of meetings with the White House. More recently, 25 of us wrote to the President laying out 5 ideas for improving the delivery of humanitarian assistance, partly based on a trip that I took to the Rafah border area along with my colleague, Jeff Merkley. So I think you’ve seen a broad and deep concern from members of Congress about the situation in Gaza, about the very high levels of civilian casualties, and the desperate humanitarian situation.
So that’s why we introduced the amendment, to make sure we addressed these kinds of issues. (not only in Gaza, but expanding it globally). And we think that what what the President has done here is a very important step to align US security assistance with American values, make it clear where we stand, and make it clear that we have enforceable provisions to ensure that these commitments are met.
Call me crazy but this seems like a big deal. I know it’s not as important as Biden mistaking a country (which Trump does at every single campaign stop) but it would seem to me to be important. But yeah, Biden is old.