The hearing featured testimony from Assistant Secretary of State for Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher, USAID’s James Kunder, Teresita Schaffer of CSIS, CAP’s Lawrence Korb, and Robert Hathaway of the Wilson Center.

For POMED’s notes on the hearing, including Q & A sessions, click here.

Most people who argue that democracy is possible in the Muslim world say that it is because there are moderate Muslims who can accept it. In the New York Times, Ayaan Hirsi Ali asks “where are the moderates? Where are the Muslim voices raised over the terrible injustice of incidents like these?” – the Saudi girl who was gang-raped and found guilty of mingling, the British teacher in Sudan guilty of unintentional disrespect, and a persecuted women’s rights activist from Bangladesh. She argues that there will only be “moderate” Muslims when they start showing more compassion.

The National Security Network looked at progress in Iraq one year after the Iraq Study Group Report and concludes, “While there has been a recent reduction in violence, a year later the political situation in Iraq is little changed, and the United States continue to struggle with many of the same difficulties.”

POMED needs you to show your support for this cause by donating, so that we can continue to play this important and unique roll. Remember, your generosity is fully tax deductible because POMED is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.

Thank you!

As for the content of State and Foreign Ops bill itself, it contains much of interest to U.S. democracy promotion in both the House and Senate versions passed in September, though a consensus version has not yet emerged. While the bill provides funding to a wide array of Middle Eastern countries, assistance to Pakistan has especially come under increased scrutiny in recent days, as has funding for the Palestinian Authority.

The NYT reported yesterday on possible funding cuts for the Millenium Challenge Corporation, whose programs have included grants to Jordan and Morocco.

Farideh Farhi, at Informed Comment, looks at Iranian reactions to the NIE, from the IRGC to Ali Larijani to two former foreign ministers.

Also today, an omnibus appropriations package slated for consideration next week is expected to provide appropriations for emergency supplemental funding of the war in Afghanistan, but not for the war in Iraq. This morning, in an interview with US News and World Report, Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ) stated in regards to supplemental war funding that “at best, I suspect we’re going to get a temporary reprise with funding that will run out maybe in the spring.”

The conference committee on the intelligence authorization bill for fiscal year 2008, H.R.2082, has agreed to apply limits to interrogation techniques found in the 2006 Army Field Manual to all government agencies, including the CIA. The move sets up a possible veto confrontation with the administration.