Mr. Speaker, for many years I have been calling upon our Nation's leaders to reject war as an instrument of foreign policy and to emphasize diplomacy. Today I rise to praise the Obama administration for opening a new page in our relations with the world by showing that it is ready to talk with friends and foes alike.

In just a short time, the administration has taken a number of important steps. It has sent an envoy to Syria, a nation which must be part of a comprehensive solution to the conflicts in the Middle East. The administration has announced its willingness to work with China on such critical issues as the global economy, on energy, and the environment. President Obama is trying to get Russia's help in convincing the Iranians to give up their ambitions of nuclear weapons, and they are encouraging our NATO partners to resume high-level relations with Russia. These relations, as we remember, were suspended after Russia's military operation against Georgia 6 months ago.

In the State Department, Secretary of State Clinton said that the United States will hold a high-level conference in Afghanistan, a conference to bring together the nations of the region and members of the international community for serious talks. Most importantly, Secretary Clinton has said that Iran is likely to be invited to this conference because, Mr. Speaker, we must talk to Iran if we're going to reduce tensions between our two countries.

President Obama promised to reach out to Iran during the presidential campaign even though he took a lot of political heat during that time. Now the President is making good on his pledge, and I, for one, applaud him for that. Of course, there are some who oppose these diplomatic overtures.

America's 6-year occupation of Iraq, Mr. Speaker, has weakened the ability of our Armed Forces to respond to real threats elsewhere in the world, and our occupation of Afghanistan hasn't defeated the Taliban. So now we must protect against sinking even deeper into an endless conflict in that part of the world.

Those who think that diplomacy won't work should read the article in today's Washington Post by Fareed Zakaria. He says the following: ``The Washington establishment treats compromise as treason and negotiations as appeasement. It believes that the only way to deal with other countries is by issuing a series of demands. This is not foreign policy,'' he says. ``It's imperial policy. And it isn't likely to work in today's world.''

Mr. Speaker, I agree with him on that because I think it's exactly right. If we are going to achieve our foreign policy goals, we must use all the tools of soft power, which really should be called ``smart power,'' because these tools include diplomacy, humanitarian assistance, and conflict resolution.

Mr. Speaker, America does best when we stick to our basic values of peace and justice. These values are the real source of our strength, and they are the values that will help us build a world that's peaceful and safe.