[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 8, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E26-E27]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     COMMENDING THE KURDS AND TRADE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, January 7, 2003

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, this Member wishes to commend to his 
colleagues three editorials from the Omaha World-Herald.
  First, the editorial from the December 11, 2002, edition of the 
paper, entitled ``Kurds set an impressive example,'' correctly commends 
the economic, political, and social progress made by the Kurds in 
northern Iraq despite Saddam Hussein's concerted and well-documented 
efforts to annihilate Iraq's Kurdish population.
  Second, the editorial from the December 16, 2002, edition of the 
Omaha World-Herald, entitled ``Behind Mexico's farm woes,'' encourages 
Mexico to pursue new farm policies which fully utilize market 
opportunities created through the North American Free Trade Agreement 
(NAFTA) rather than simply continuing to blame U.S. farm subsidies for 
Mexico's continued ag sector problems.
  Finally, the editorial from the January 2, 2003, edition of the 
paper, entitled ``Open trade, open meetings,'' offers support for U.S. 
proposals to increase transparency within the World Trade Organization 
(WTO).

                    Kurds Set an Impressive Example

       The Kurdish area of Iraq shows the progress that is 
     possible once a dictator is freed from a dictator's rule. 
     U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel visited that zone last week, and he was 
     on the mark in saying the Kurdish area has the potential to 
     serve as a model for what a post-Saddam Iraq could become.
       Saddam Hussein's regime devastated the Kurd's territory in 
     the 1980s but lost its grip on the area in 1991 as a result 
     of the Gulf War. Economic development began to surge there in 
     1996, when the United Nations began channeling a set portion 
     of Iraq's oil revenues to the Kurds. Saddam's government is 
     able to short-circuit or delay various development projects, 
     but the Kurds have still made impressive progress.
       Here is how Barham Salih, prime minister of the Kurdistan 
     Regional Government, described that improvement, in an 
     opinion essay this week in The Washington Post:
       ``In 11 years we have rebuilt some 4,000 villages, set up 
     two universities and opened more than 2,700 schools. 
     Protected by U.S. and British air power, we have created an 
     environment of freedom unique in Iraqi history, in which 
     Kurds, Turkomens, Assyrian

[[Page E27]]

     Christians and Arabs enjoy cultural and political rights. My 
     home city of Sulaimani alone has more than 130 media outlets, 
     including 13 TV stations and dozens of newspapers--as well as 
     unrestricted access to the Internet and satellite TV.''
       The currency in Kurdish-controlled areas is worth more than 
     100 times its counterpart in the rest of Iraq, the San 
     Francisco Chronicle notes. A Chronicle article described the 
     area's newly paved highways as well as new hotels and open-
     air restaurants.
       The child mortality rate among the Kurds, the Chronicle 
     points out, is about 45 percent less than that for the rest 
     of Iraq. Such a contrast strongly suggests that Saddam's 
     decisions in allocating medical resources are a major factor 
     in bringing misery to average Iraqis.
       The Kurds' progress shouldn't be exaggerated. Many Kurds 
     eke out only a modest living, and the area's political system 
     still needs to achieve the orderliness and relative comity 
     associated with democratic systems.
       On balance, though, the Kurds' achievement after only a few 
     years offers tremendous hope. In certain respects, it can be 
     a role model not just for Iraq but for many countries in that 
     part of the world.
                                  ____


                       Behind Mexico's Farm Woes

       Tariffs on agricultural trade between Mexico and the United 
     States have fallen in dramatic fashion since the mid-1990s. 
     That embrace of open trade has put pressure on many Mexican 
     farmers, compelling many of them to get out of agriculture 
     altogether.
       Some farm activists and commentators are blaming the United 
     States, arguing that its heavy subsidizing of agriculture 
     puts Mexico at an unfair disadvantage.
       It's true that U.S. farm subsidies are wide-ranging and 
     second only to those of the European Union (although Mexico's 
     corn subsidies average $150 a ton, compared to $85 in this 
     country). But it is woefully simplistic to lay all 
     responsibility at the feet of the United States. Many other 
     important factors are also in play.
       Critics tend to sidestep the fact, for instance, that much 
     of the Mexican farm sector is thriving. Under NAFTA, Mexico's 
     agricultural exports have gone up significantly. That growth 
     was made possible in part because many Mexican farmers 
     invested and modernized in preparation for the impending 
     changes.
       Other farmers, in contrast, made no adjustments. They are 
     now feeling pressure. True, many Mexican farmers have little 
     flexibility because they own small plots or else communal 
     ones lacking clear title. But that only underscores the 
     reality that such farms have precarious financial prospects 
     to begin with.
       The Mexican farm sector has brought some problems on itself 
     by failing, in many cases, to invest in improvements for 
     irrigation and transportation. Mexico has hurt itself, too, 
     by failing to curtail disease in livestock. Disease is so 
     widespread for Mexican hogs, for example, that just two 
     Mexican states are currently allowed to export pork--and only 
     to Japan.
       A sensible strategy would be to promote industrial 
     development so that Mexican farmers and laborers can leave 
     unsustainable plots and take on better-paying factory jobs--
     which, in fact, is the course the Mexican government has been 
     attempting under NAFTA. Anti-globalization activists, 
     regrettably, are trying to block the creation of factories in 
     rural Mexico, arguing that the traditional farm economy needs 
     to be preserved in is entirety.
       Mexico's farm sector has much to gain from the efficiencies 
     and opportunities that open markets create. Mexico will toss 
     away those opportunities, however, if it allows farm 
     interests and political activists to block crucial 
     flexibility and diversification.
                                  ____


                       Open Trade, Open Meetings

       The World Trade Organization serves a vital function by 
     overseeing the rules that govern the annual exchange of more 
     than $7 trillion in goods and services worldwide. Under the 
     WTO's direction, the world is moving slowly, if sometimes 
     unsteadily, toward more open trade. The trend is healthy.
       Critics raise a legitimate point, however, when they decry 
     how the WTO conceals its deliberations from public scrutiny.
       Defenders rationalize the closed-door nature of much of the 
     WTO's proceedings as necessary to protect companies' 
     proprietary information. But such an arrangement 
     understandably leads to accusations that the deliberations 
     are permitting private horse-trading that should more 
     properly be conducted in public.
       The United States, to its credit, has proposed a series of 
     measures to open up the WTO process. Under the U.S. 
     recommendations, hearings would be conducted openly. Legal 
     briefs and final panel reports would be made available to the 
     public in a timely fashion. Meanwhile, procedures would be 
     put in place to ensure that proprietary information that 
     legitimately deserves protection would receive it.
       Those would all be positive steps. Some WTO members are 
     balking but the call for greater openness should be heeded. 
     The WTO, whose decisions have enormous ramifications for 
     countries' economic well-being, ought to move its operations 
     into the daylight.

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