Sec. Clinton, staff face 'trench warfare' for smart power funds

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3.5.09

WASHINGTON (AFP) — {snip}

Key to the fight for Clinton's State Department is Jacob Lew, who said the proposed White House budget unveiled last week "stays on the path of doubling foreign assistance that President Obama committed to in the campaign."

"We can't ramp up the effort on foreign assistance if we don't have the people to run the programs," Lew said at the Washington gathering sponsored by the Center for US Global Engagement.

"It's critically important that diplomacy and development be right up there with defense... In the long run, the more effective we are at development and diplomacy, the less we need to turn to defense," Lew added.

In a new foreign policy built on "smart power," Clinton and Obama want to stress diplomacy and development as much as defense in order to revive the US standing in the world after eight years of president George W. Bush.

The State Department said the increased foreign aid will support "initiatives to educate children in the poorest countries, foster global food security through sustainable agriculture... and stabilize post-conflict states."

The budget also focuses on global health programs as well as efforts to stop the spread of dangerous weapons, terrorism and crime while it adds more diplomats and development experts to the payroll, it said in a statement.

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1. .

[tnlefty]

2. "He needs to use that political capital to make it happen"

I agree that the budget for diplomacy should be as large, if not larger, than that of the Pentagon, as long as it doesn't become the unaccountable for anything, black hole, that is the Pentagon.