This past week the United States House of Representatives decided it was more important to grill a baseball player than to consider and vote on a bill that deals with electronic surveillance of terrorists. Then they went on vacation. The Senate had passed a bill and President Bush had said he would sign it. The House simply failed to take up this bill. In light of that, and on this Second Sunday in Lent, perhaps this prayer for Congress is in order:

Most gracious God, we humbly beseech thee, as for the people of these United States in general, so especially for their Senate and Representatives in Congress assembled; that thous wouldest be pleased to direct and prosper all their consultations, to the advancement of thy glory, the good of the Church, the safety, honour, and welfare of thy people; that all things may be so ordered and settled by their endeavours, upon the best and surest foundations, that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be established among us for all generations. These and all other necessaries, for them, for us, and thy whole Church, we humbly beg in the Name and mediation of Jesus Christ, our most blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen.

For many years the 22nd Congressional District of Florida was served by Republican Clay Shaw, but in 2006, Shaw was beaten by Democrat Ron Klein. The district extends from Palm Beach Gardens south to northern Broward County -just north of Ft. Lauderdale.

Klein’s website posts news releases that are the usual blather you’d expect from a politician. However, in his State of the District address given in January, he bragged about his duties in Washington – in particular, he says:

I was also assigned a seat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, where I was granted a position as the Vice Chairman of the Middle East Subcommittee and a seat on the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee. The positions allow me to participate in the rethinking of our foreign policy in Iraq, Iran, and in our own hemisphere, Venezuela. It also provides me with an opportunity to work on the committee with my close friend, Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a fellow member of the South Florida delegation.

Now Klein has an opponent who should be in even more of a position to understand our foreign policy in Iraq – Allen West. West is a Lt. Colonel retired from the United States Army. He served 22-years, including a stint in Iraq and a stint in Afghanistan as an adviser following his retirement.

In his Army career, Col. West has been honored many times, including a Bronze Star, three Meritorious Service Medals, three Army Commendation Medals (one with Valor), and a Valorous Unit Award. He received his valor award as a Captain in Desert Shield/Storm, was the US Army ROTC instructor of the year in 1993, and was a Distinguished Honor Graduate III Corps at Fort Hood, Texas Air Assault School.

Col. West’s wife Angela holds a Ph. D. and works as a financial planner in Broward County. They have two daughters.

Here’s the first paragraph of his post on issues – and it’s something that reflects my thoughts:

We must reduce our dependence on foreign oil as a matter of national security. Over the last 50 years, we have supported governments solely because they have protected our oil interests. As a result, the money we have spent on imported oil goes largely to fund enemy activities by hostile states and the groups they sponsor. We need to take serious steps toward energy independence to end the financing of terrorist activities around the world. The sooner we no longer rely on the Middle East for energy, the sooner we can put forward a foreign policy that honestly deals with the region. To do this, we must exploit all of our own natural resources, using all available technologies to protect our environment and develop a self-sustaining energy policy.

I don’t live in the 22nd District, but those of you who do and are concerned about the direction of the country may give him consideration.

hugo chavez, erstwhile leader for life of Venezuela, is taking more steps in emulation of his idol, fidel castro. First, he took on Exxon-Mobile. PDVSA, the Venezuelan owned oil company that does business in the US as Citgo, wanted to take over Exxon-Mobil’s interest in a joint venture called Cerro Negro. Exxon didn’t agree to the terms, so the Venezuelan government took over the entire venture. Exxon-Mobile did what corporations do – it sued, and on Thursday a court in London granted an injunction and froze $12-billion in the country’s assets.

Over the weekend, hugo chavez threw a fit and threatened to stop shipping oil to the U.S. From the Guardian (UK)

“If you freeze us, if you really manage to freeze us, if you damage us, then we will hurt you. Do you know how? We are not going to send oil to the United States, Mr. Bush, Mr. Danger,” Chavez said on his weekly TV show.

“Venezuela will join in your economic war and other countries will be with us in the economic war,” added the ally of oil producers such as Iran and Ecuador.

However, Forbes reports that oil markets aren’t playing much attention to the little dictator wannabe today.

But while prices initially jumped on the news, they have eased back as the market digests the full implications of Chavez’ statement.

‘Obviously on the surface this was very bullish,’ said Societe Generale analyst Mike Wittner. ‘(But) I don’t expect anything to come out of this in terms of (Venezuela) actually cutting supplies to the US.

‘This has has made for some very bullish headlines and some knee-jerk reaction, but that is now easing off,’ he said.

During the same TV show, chavez went on to threaten more multi-national corporations – Nestle and Parmalat. Venezuela is suffering shortages of milk, and rather than take responsibility himself for his own failed economic policies, el mico putumayo is threatening to seize milk plants owned by the two companies. The International Herald Tribune reports chavez is upset because the private companies can obviously operate more effiently than his state-owned plants.

“It’s no use for us to be setting up plants (if) then there is no milk for the plants because Parmalat or … Nestle take it all away,” Chavez said. “That’s where I say this government has to tighten the screws.”

If companies ensure a supply through “blackmail, offering money up front” while leaving state-run plants without enough milk, “that’s called sabotage,” Chavez said. He added that in such cases, “the plants must be taken over and expropriated.”

Expropriation has worked well with Exxon-Mobile, hasn’t it hugo?

We’ve written in the past about Iran’s force projection into Latin America. In Venezuela, there’s a tractor plant and cement plant as well as an oil refinery. hugo chavez is also expressing interest in Iran’s nuclear program. We’ve reported on how Iran may be buying uranium from Venezuela.

In Argentina, Iranian-supported Hizbollah set off bombs that killed people at Jewish centers in the 199s. And that the blasts were intended to intimidate Argentina for failing to help Iran build nukes.

In Cuba, the mullahs have promised to build yet another cement plant and an electric power plant. The Cubans and Iranians also signed an agreement in which the Iranians promised to send engineering and technical services to Cuba.

Now another communist dictator-wannabe in Latin America is cozying up to the mullahs. Daniel Ortega is allowing the Iranians to build a shipping center in an extremely remote part of his country. One of this country’s most innovative reporters, Todd Bensman, made a trip to Monkey Point, Nicaragua, and files a special report with the New York Sun.

If the ruling mullahs of the Islamic Republic of Iran were chafing enough about U.S. Navy vessels in the Strait of Hormuz to send speedboats after them last month, they must take some comfort in having projected an equivalent threat in America‘s own backyard, in this unlikeliest of locales.

The Iranians have planted their flag here in the tree-festooned wilderness of hills that jut out to shelter a vast, unspoiled Caribbean bay on Nicaragua’s eastern shore. The point’s namesake monkeys swing through the heavy canopy above the smattering of Rama Indians and black Creole people who hunt them and other wildlife for daily sustenance, just as they have for generations. No television or communication informs the Rama and Creole of the internecine goings on in distant Managua, let alone some American beef with Iran half a globe away.

And this:

While Iranian money has yet to materialize, the embassy that national security experts most fear as cover for terrorist plots is up and running. Revolutionary Guard operatives reportedly have been moving in and out of the country. In one instance, a senior government minister allowed 21 Iranian men to enter secretly without passport processing.

The longevity of any Iranian presence in Nicaragua may depend on whether it helps Mr. Ortega maintain his razor-thin margin of public support. Influential domestic opponents of the administration are ramping up strong criticism of the alliance, while Nicaragua’s poor will support it unless promises go unfulfilled.

And this, from Bensman’s earlier report in his home newspaper, The San Antonio Express-News.

The second military helicopter in as many days hovered over the jungle and then landed to a most unwelcome reception from several dozen angry Rama Indian and Creole villagers. Rupert Allen Clear Duncan, a leader of some 400 Creole who live along the shoreline, confronted the foreigners dressed in suits and military uniforms that day in March and demanded to know the purpose of their aerial trespasses.

“This is our land; we have always lived here, and you don’t have our permission to be here,” Duncan spat, when refused the courtesy of an explanation.

Not until Duncan threatened to have his machete-waving followers damage the aircraft did they learn that some of the men were from the Islamic Republic of Iran and had come promising to establish a Central American foothold in the middle of their territory.

As part of a new partnership with Nicaragua’s Sandinista President Daniel Ortega, Iran and its Venezuelan allies plan to help finance a $350 million deep-water port at Monkey Point on the wild Caribbean shore, and then plow a connecting “dry canal” corridor of pipelines, rails and highways across the country to the populous Pacific Ocean. Iran recently established an embassy in Nicaragua’s capital.

In feeling threatened by Iran’s ambitions, the people of Monkey Point have powerful company. The Iranians’ arrival in Nicaragua comes as the Bush administration and some European allies hold the threat of war over Iran to force an end to its uranium enrichment program and alleged help to anti-U.S. insurgents in Iraq.

The News-Express even publishes a graphic illustrating Iran’s advances in the Americas.

Why do we care? For one, the National Security Ageny is backing away from it’s earlier, unbelievable story that Iran was no longer pursuing nukes.

At a hearing yesterday (February 5, 2008) of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the intelligence director, Michael McConnell, said, “If I had ’til now to think about it, I probably would change a few things.” He later added, “I would change the way we describe the Iranian nuclear program. I would have included that there are the component parts, that the portion of it, maybe the least significant, had halted.”

And now we get word that Iran has in fact developed a new centrifuge.

Iran‘s nuclear project has developed its own version of an advanced centrifuge to churn out enriched uranium much faster than its previous machines, diplomats and experts said Thursday.

More significant, the officials said, is the fact that Iran appears to have used know-how and equipment bought on the nuclear black market in combination with domestic ingenuity to overcome daunting technical difficulties and create highly advanced centrifuges.

And a Swiss site reports Iran has begun building another nuclear plant.

Last week, the Iranians tested a new rocket – one powerful enough to reach space. Experts say this was probably the Iranian Sahab 4 rocket – based on Soviet technology. In fact, it may well be the Soviet SS-4, the very missiles the Soviets put in Cuba leading to the Cuban missile crisis. They have a range of 2000-km. Or, it could be a new missile from North Korea that is also based on Russian technology with a range of 4000-km.

What does that mean for the U.S? Again from Bensman:

What worries state department officials, former national security officials and counterterrorism researchers is that, if attacked, Iran could stage strikes on American or allied interests from Nicaragua, deploying the Iranian terrorist group Hezbollah and Revolutionary Guard operatives already in Latin America. Bellicose threats by Iran’s clerical leadership to hit American interests worldwide if attacked, by design or not, heighten the anxiety.

“The bottom line is if there is a confrontation with Iran, and Iran gets bombed, I have absolutely no doubt that Iran is going to lash out globally,” said John R. Schindler, a veteran former counterintelligence officer and analyst for the National Security Agency.

Lashing out globally could mean attacks on the U.S. mainland. If the Iranians built a missile base (using the tractor plant and cement plants) in Caracas, Venezuela, that’s 3500-km from New York City – well within range of the second missile. If they built a base in Managua, Nicaragua it would be less than 3400-km from New York. Even the 2000-km missile puts parts of the U.S. within range. Miami, for instance, is 1642-km from Managua, New Orleans is right at 2000-km, and Houston and the port of Galveston are slightly farther than 2000-km.

This all has very serious potential. I hope someone is Washington is paying attention.

Update – Fausta comments on Russia’s supposed surprise over the Iranian missile.