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| | Disease Threat Greatest Foreign Policy Issue, Congressman Says - US Department of State |
 | | At a September 21 congressional hearing exploring developments in Southeast Asia, Leach said the transnational threat from the HIV virus and the potential for an avian influenza, or bird flu, pandemic that could endanger millions "are more grave life and death issues than those related to armaments and evil intents of mendacious minds." |
 | | Leach, a Republican from Iowa, is the chairman of the Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific of the House Committee on International Relations. |
 | | The hearing was intended to explore a range of issues in Southeast Asia, Leach said, including the challenges of terrorism and radical Islam in the region, the possibility that China's initiatives in the region may marginalize U.S. influence; and human-rights abuses in Indonesia, Burma and Vietnam. |
| usinfo.state.gov /eap/Archive/2005/Sep/22-801851.html (602 words) |
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