Senator Harkin:

Since I am not an Iowan, I understand that you might not reply to this message. No matter - it's worth saying regardless.

In your press release on the Harkin-Engel Potocol, you expressed your disappointment "that the July 1 deadline established in the Protocol was not fully met."

Frankly, I would like to express my deep disappointment in your tepid response to the industry's failing. After four years - four years - it seems that little actual progress has been made, all that folderol about foundations and "pilot studies" notwithstanding. And now, instead of the Protocol's original requirement that industry certify all its products as slavery-free by the July deadline, you've let them set the bar far lower, accepting a commitment (or "commitment"?) to a certification system that "will cover 50% of the cocoa growing areas of Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana within three years." They were supposed to eliminate child slavery in the industry by July 1, 2005, and now you're accepting their promise that they will cover 50% of two countries by 2008? With all due respect, that's bullshit.

What is a promise from the industry even worth? They failed to make good on the Protocol, so what makes you think they'll make good now? What's more, while I note some vague timeframes and talk of "deadlines" in your statement, I see no specific dates for compliance. Perhaps you figured that was pointless, given the fate of July's deadline.

Senator, I am far from naive about politicians, but when I was educating myself about this issue I dared to think you might be one of the good guys, on this issue at least. Now, I am far, far more skeptical. Now, it seems that you are, in effect, colluding with the industry's shameful practices. With your Protocol, you gave people the impression that this problem was being "taken care of." Today, you may only have extended that impression. You are legitimizing the industry's loathsome behavior.

This is a betrayal of the children you ostensibly set out to help, and I urge you to reconsider your actions. I suggest that you re-introduce legislation to stop the importation of slave-farmed cocoa or require US companies to use Fair Trade cocoa exclusively. Otherwise, I, for one, will know that your commitment to those children was more talk than walk, regardless of how many feel-good statements you make to the contrary. Please do the right thing.

Sincerely,