Dialogue with America's enemies, improved ties with other countries and more aggressive scrutiny of Bush administration decision-making are all high on the foreign policy agenda if Democrats score big in next week's US elections.
Under the US Constitution, presidents have the lead on foreign policy and that will continue no matter which party controls Congress after November 7.
But if Democrats take the House of Representatives, and maybe the Senate, as some polls predict, they could influence international relations - through committee chairmanships and budget authority - in ways they have not since 2001, when President Bill Clinton left office. Iraq is the focus. Democrats and a growing number of Republicans are alarmed at Bush's handling of the worsening war.
But Democratic divisions on what to do - withdraw US troops now, withdraw in some certain time frame, even beef up the military presence - are well-documented. This sets the stage for robust debate after a high-level study panel recommends potential solutions before the new Congress takes office in January. More broadly, Democrats likely to lead foreign policy committees hope to move beyond what they consider other Bush mistakes.
"I will work hard on fostering better relations, more respect for relations with both allies and non-allies," said US Representative Tom Lantos of California, who may lead the House International Relations Committee. "There has been a distinct deterioration of US relations with a very large number of countries" from France to Indonesia, he told Reuters.
Lantos and Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, who could become chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, favour direct US talks, largely eschewed by Bush, as key to negotiated solutions with Iran and North Korea over their nuclear programs.
"America, whose greatest strengths are her ideas and her ideals, has become afraid to talk," Biden said in a speech on Tuesday, adding: "It's time to find our voice again." But this approach does not mean problem countries will not be called to account. Biden plans to introduce legislation holding North Korea responsible if it transfers nuclear technology to a radical group that uses the weapon.
And Congress has shown bipartisan support for sanctions on Iran. Senior Democratic aides, who said the administration often stonewalled Congress, predicted a Democratic majority would vigorously examine issues ranging from contracts for work in Iraq to US policy in the Middle East.
The Homeland Security Department, created after the September 11 attacks, and the Millennium Challenge Account, which aids developing free-market democracies, are other likely targets.
But one prominent lobbyist said it wasn't clear how a Democratic majority would exert itself, especially if the Senate stays Republican and the House majority is narrow. A Democratic Congress may pay more attention to the US trade deficit with China and China's human rights record but is not expected to provoke any major shift in US policy.
"The China consensus in this town remains strong in terms of favouring a high level of US engagement across a broad front with China," said one senior Democratic aide. If Democrats win the Senate, they could make trouble for Bush by thwarting confirmation of senior appointees, including UN Ambassador John Bolton, who having failed to win Senate approval, is serving under a provisional appointment.
The period between the election and inauguration of the new Congress could affect the landmark US-India nuclear agreement, which passed the House but stalled in the Senate.
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