Bush Holdovers Attempt to Undermine Obama Foreign Policy on Whaling

[Are_grits_groceries]

WASHINGTON - Just days after the inauguration of President Obama, holdovers from the Bush administration are already attempting to undermine his foreign policy on whaling.

According to news reports out of Hawaii, Bush appointees on the International Whaling Commission - Doug DeMaster and commission chairman William Hogarth - participated in closed-door negotiations with Japan to finalize a deal that would allow increased whaling off the coast of Japan in return for marginal limits on Japan's illegal commercial whaling program in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. The trade-off will not benefit whale conservation and could actually put additional endangered populations at risk.

Such a deal would directly violate President Obama's stated policy of working to end Japanese whaling. In December of 2007, then Senator Obama responded to a question from Greenpeace by laying out his foreign policy on whaling issues:

"As president, I will ensure that the U.S. provides leadership in enforcing international wildlife protection agreements, including strengthening the international moratorium on commercial whaling," Obama wrote. "Allowing Japan to continue commercial whaling is unacceptable."
http://firedoglake.com/2009/01/30/holdover-bush-appointees-defy-obama-support-japanese-whaling/

Stop. Them. NOW!!

[madrchsod]

1. as long as the "steve irwin" is afloat

the japanese whalers will be harassed and diverted from the slaughter of the whales