Follow us on social

Shutterstock_1341075272-scaled

Q&A: Rep. Ilhan Omar explains her new 'Pathway to Peace' and how it's an antidote to U.S. militarism

"Now more than ever, there is room for a new consensus — one that rejects the warmongering and militarism of the past and looks toward a more hopeful, peaceful world."

Reporting | Washington Politics

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) catapulted herself into the progressive foreign policy debate this week by introducing a series of proposals that seek to shift the United States away from a more militaristic approach to one based on human rights, international law, and peacebuilding. 

Dubbed a “Pathway to Peace,” Rep. Omar’s proposals focus on reconfiguring how the United States uses, or misuses in her estimation, sanctions as a foreign policy tool, in addition to provisions strengthening migrants rights and calling on the U.S. to join the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Criminal Court. 

“Broadly, the package outlines a bold progressive vision to rethink the country’s approach to foreign policy by centering human rights, justice, and peace as the pillars of America’s engagement in the world, and making military action a last resort and prioritizing multilateralism and diplomacy over militarism,” Rep. Omar told Responsible Statecraft this week. “The plan takes into account the experiences of people directly affected by conflict and the long-term consequences of U.S. militarism, acknowledges the damage done when we fail to live up to international human rights standards and is sincere about our values regardless of short-term political convenience.” 

See below for the full transcript of our conversation with Rep. Omar, which includes her explanation of how she plans to obtain buy-in, as well as how her plan isn’t just a response to Donald Trump, but also to decades-long bipartisan foreign policy consensus that has mired the United States in endless wars: 


RESPONSIBLE STATECRAFT: After reading through the bills and resolutions you plan to introduce, the first thing that came to my mind was this notion of “the cruelty is the point,” which is a saying often used to describe Donald Trump’s policies on immigration, refugees, and asylum seekers. The idea is that what Trump has done so far is so cruel that the only logical conclusion is that cruelty to other human beings was part of the policy calculus.

My sense is that what you’re proposing is meant to be the antithesis of that, and of Trumpism writ-large. But there’s a lot in here that pre-dates the current administration. How much of this is in response to Trump specifically versus trying to tackle general failures in U.S. foreign policy over the last several decades? 

REP. ILHAN OMAR (D-MINN.): It’s both. The problems of American militarism and under-investment in peace and diplomacy predate the Trump administration. The Iraq War came before Trump. Guantanamo came before Trump. The expansion of drone warfare came before Trump. It’s also true that this president has openly violated any semblance of respect for international law, multilateralism or human rights. 

But with any challenge comes opportunity. We must seize the current moment to pursue a foreign policy that actually lives up to the values we espoused before Trump.

RS: I want to turn to your proposals to amend the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. As we know, Donald Trump’s re-imposition of crushing sanctions on Iran have led to Iranian civilians experiencing severe food and medicine shortages, among other hardships, while at the same time increasing tensions between Iran and the U.S.

But it’s not just Iran and, again, it’s not just Donald Trump. As you yourself have noted previously, the United States has too often used sanctions as a foreign policy tool without much thought about wider strategy or their negative consequences on civilian populations. But you have also cited examples of how sanctions have been properly utilized, for example in cases covered by the Global Magnitsky Act and the boycott and divestment campaign against apartheid in South Africa.

How will your proposal thread this needle? And how will you work to convince those who have supported counterproductive sanctions regimes to rethink how we apply these practices? 

REP. OMAR: I’m glad you asked, because it’s an important distinction. As I’ve written, I adamantly oppose any state sanctions that collectively punish an entire population. My bill is aimed at providing more oversight on this. Whether it’s sanctions that cause medical shortages or cut off economic aid — our sanctions should never be aimed at the citizenry of a country.  

As I’ve also written, this does not mean that no sanctions should ever be used. The Global Magnitsky Act is a critical tool in holding specific officials accountable for human rights abuses. I’ve cosponsored multiple bills on this — and authored my own legislation to hold the Sultanate of Brunei accountable for their brutal penal code. And it’s important that we support civil society movements, like the South Africa divestment campaign, that hold governments accountable for human rights abuses.

You don’t have to agree with every detail of a movement to support their advocacy rights. And you don’t have to agree with me about the use of sanctions in order to support the Congressional Oversight of Sanctions Act. The bill is about restraining executive powers, restoring Congress’s Constitutional authority, and making sure we’re making informed decisions. 

We’re having this conversation about executive powers when it comes to AUMFs and domestic national emergencies, and we should be having it about sanctions too.

RS: I think we agree that U.S. foreign policy is way over-militarized. During a recent panel hosted by Democracy Now, you referenced the measures you plan to introduce as, quote, “a pathway to peace” and “a new way of reimagining a vision of what our foreign policy should be.” You also referenced how this vision can combat militaristic U.S. foreign policy. I’m wondering if you can explain a bit more about how you envision what you’re proposing will serve as a sort of antidote to militarism?

REP. OMAR: Broadly, the package outlines a bold progressive vision to rethink the country’s approach to foreign policy by centering human rights, justice, and peace as the pillars of America’s engagement in the world, and making military action a last resort and prioritizing multilateralism and diplomacy over militarism. The plan takes into account the experiences of people directly affected by conflict and the long-term consequences of U.S. militarism, acknowledges the damage done when we fail to live up to international human rights standards and is sincere about our values regardless of short-term political convenience.

For example, we transfer $5 billion from the Pentagon’s Overseas Contingency Operations budget to the State Department to create a new, multilateral Global Peacebuilding Fund and institute red lines for military aid if a country commits grave human rights abuses. We also require the State Department to work with countries that cross those red lines toward transitional justice for the victims of their abuses. Our militarization of foreign policy isn’t only the use of our military — it’s also our support for the militaries of dictatorships and human rights abusers around the world. My package proposes to rethink our “interests” as being partnerships with the people of the country, and siding with the victims.

RS: I am the managing editor of Responsible Statecraft, which is the publishing platform of the Quincy Institute. And the Quincy Institute in part seeks to upend the norms of the bipartisan foreign policy consensus in Washington that tends to turn toward over use of sanctions and military-first approaches to U.S. foreign policy. The problem is that this mindset is deeply entrenched in policy and political debates and oftentimes perpetuated by mainstream media. So I think in short, the headwinds against what you, and indeed the Quincy Institute, are working toward are quite strong. How can we normalize diplomacy and restraint as the primary motivating concepts of U.S. foreign policy in this kind of environment and how can these ideas garner support from both sides of the aisle?

REP. OMAR: We must have the confidence that our mission is just and that the country supports us. The American people are fed up with endless war. The American people don’t want more than half of our discretionary spending going to a bloated Pentagon budget — instead of human needs like healthcare and housing. Now more than ever, there is room for a new consensus — one that rejects the warmongering and militarism of the past and looks toward a more hopeful, peaceful world.


Reporting | Washington Politics
Recep Tayyip Erdogan Benjamin Netanyahu
Top photo credit: President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Shutterstock/ Mustafa Kirazli) and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Salty View/Shutterstock)
Is Turkey's big break with Israel for real?

Why Israel is now turning its sights on Turkey

Middle East

As the distribution of power shifts in the region, with Iran losing relative power and Israel and Turkey emerging on top, an intensified rivalry between Tel Aviv and Ankara is not a question of if, but how. It is not a question of whether they choose the rivalry, but how they choose to react to it: through confrontation or peaceful management.

As I describe in Treacherous Alliance, a similar situation emerged after the end of the Cold War: The collapse of the Soviet Union dramatically changed the global distribution of power, and the defeat of Saddam's Iraq in the Persian Gulf War reshuffled the regional geopolitical deck. A nascent bipolar regional structure took shape with Iran and Israel emerging as the two main powers with no effective buffer between them (since Iraq had been defeated). The Israelis acted on this first, inverting the strategy that had guided them for the previous decades: The Doctrine of the Periphery. According to this doctrine, Israel would build alliances with the non-Arab states in its periphery (Iran, Turkey, and Ethiopia) to balance the Arab powers in its vicinity (Iraq, Syria, and Egypt, respectively).

keep readingShow less
Havana, Cuba
Top Image Credit: Havana, Cuba, 2019. (CLWphoto/Shutterstock)

Trump lifted sanctions on Syria. Now do Cuba.

North America

President Trump’s new National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM) on Cuba, announced on June 30, reaffirms the policy of sanctions and hostility he articulated at the start of his first term in office. In fact, the new NSPM is almost identical to the old one.

The policy’s stated purpose is to “improve human rights, encourage the rule of law, foster free markets and free enterprise, and promote democracy” by restricting financial flows to the Cuban government. It reaffirms Trump’s support for the 1996 Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act, which explicitly requires regime change — that Cuba become a multiparty democracy with a free market economy (among other conditions) before the U.S. embargo will be lifted.

keep readingShow less
SPD Germany Ukraine
Top Photo: Lars Klingbeil (l-r, SPD), Federal Minister of Finance, Vice-Chancellor and SPD Federal Chairman, and Bärbel Bas (SPD), Federal Minister of Labor and Social Affairs and SPD Party Chairwoman, bid farewell to the members of the previous Federal Cabinet Olaf Scholz (SPD), former Federal Chancellor, Nancy Faeser, Saskia Esken, SPD Federal Chairwoman, Karl Lauterbach, Svenja Schulze and Hubertus Heil at the SPD Federal Party Conference. At the party conference, the SPD intends to elect a new executive committee and initiate a program process. Kay Nietfeld/dpa via Reuters Connect

Does Germany’s ruling coalition have a peace problem?

Europe

Surfacing a long-dormant intra-party conflict, the Friedenskreise (peace circles) within the Social Democratic Party of Germany has published a “Manifesto on Securing Peace in Europe” in a stark challenge to the rearmament line taken by the SPD leaders governing in coalition with the conservative CDU-CSU under Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Although the Manifesto clearly does not have broad support in the SPD, the party’s leader, Deputy Chancellor and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, won only 64% support from the June 28-29 party conference for his performance so far, a much weaker endorsement than anticipated. The views of the party’s peace camp may be part of the explanation.

keep readingShow less

LATEST

QIOSK

Newsletter

Subscribe now to our weekly round-up and don't miss a beat with your favorite RS contributors and reporters, as well as staff analysis, opinion, and news promoting a positive, non-partisan vision of U.S. foreign policy.