What Caught My Eye Today - Mitt Romney's Foreign Policy Plan

Fred's Note: It occurs to me that in recent posts regarding the upcoming U.S. Presidential election that I am guilty of doing the same thing as various media outlets by rendering opinions on statements that I may have taken out of context.  To be fair, I'm not a professional journalist and doubt very much that my blog will ever reach the critical mass that the New York Times does. However, the information is readily available to anyone who truly wants to make an informed decision come Election Day in November. With that in mind, over the next several days and weeks, I'll be posting excerpts from the websites of both the Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney and the incumbent Democratic candidate, Barack Obama. It goes without saying that I will be adding some color commentary, but the content will be from the candidates themselves.

The last of the presidential debates was conducted yesterday with emphasis on foreign policy (most pundits declared the debate a draw). How convenient that we wrap up our series on presidential plans with foreign policy?  Let's see how Mitt Romney views stack up.

As president, Mitt Romney will safeguard America and secure our country’s interests and most cherished ideals. A Romney foreign policy will proceed with clarity and resolve. The unifying thread of his national security strategy is American strength.  When America is strong, the world is safer. The best ally world peace has ever known is a strong America. The “last best hope of earth” was what Abraham Lincoln called our country. Mitt Romney believes in fulfilling the promise of Lincoln’s words and will defend America abroad in word and in deed.

• National Defense: As Commander-in-Chief, Mitt Romney will keep faith with the men and women who defend us just as he will ensure that our military capabilities are matched to the interests we need to protect. He will put our Navy on the path to increase its shipbuilding rate from nine per year to approximately fifteen per year, which will include three submarines per year. He will also modernize and replace the aging inventories of the Air Force, Army, and Marines, and selectively strengthen our force structure. And he will fully commit to a robust, multi-layered national ballistic-missile defense system to deter and defend against nuclear attacks on our homeland and our allies. This will not be a cost-free process. We cannot rebuild our military strength without paying for it. Mitt Romney will begin by reversing Obama-era defense cuts and return to the budget baseline established by Secretary Robert Gates in 2010, with the goal of setting core defense spending—meaning funds devoted to the fundamental military components of personnel, operations and maintenance, procurement, and research and development—at a floor of 4% of GDP. Interesting that the first thing, Romney mentions when it comes to foreign policy is national defense.  I'm not saying there isn't a correlation, but maybe boyfriend should give a second look at the emphasis he places on national defense with regard to foreign policy. Maybe, just maybe, that might help tone down the impression that he is a war monger.
• Israel: To ensure Israel’s security, Mitt Romney will work closely with Israel to maintain its strategic military edge. The United States will work intensively with Turkey and Egypt to shore up the now fraying relationships with Israel that have underpinned peace in the Middle East for decades. With regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Mitt Romney will reject any measure that would frustrate direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. He will make clear to the Palestinians that the unilateral attempt to decide issues that are designated for final negotiations by the Oslo Accords is unacceptable. Last time I checked a map, Israel and Iran were part of the Middle East, but it seems they warrant even more attention than the rest of the region, which after defense spending appears to be highest on Romney's foreign policy agenda. Now then, if I am reading the tea leaves correctly here, the message seems to be, "you mess with Israel, you mess with us...and you don't want to mess with us." Gee, I wonder who that comment might be directed toward?
• Iran: Romney’s strategy will be to end Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons capability, eliminate the threat of Iranian-backed nuclear terrorism against the United States and our allies, and prevent nuclear proliferation across the Middle East. U.S. policy toward Iran must begin with an understanding on Iran’s part that a military option to deal with their nuclear weapons program is very real and very credible. Romney will work with both Congress and international partners to implement newer and broader economic sanctions to increase pressure on the Iranian regime. He will also fully implement and step up enforcement of existing U.S. laws that bar commerce with Iran, such as the exportation of refined petroleum products to Iran. Mitt Romney will also push for greater diplomatic isolation of Iran. I'm not exactly sure how this plan differs from what the current administration is doing, but I guess Romney will somehow do it better.
• Middle East: Mitt Romney will pursue a strategy of supporting groups and governments across the Middle East to advance the values of representative government, economic opportunity, and human rights, and opposing any extension of Iranian or jihadist influence. The Romney administration will strive to ensure that the Arab Spring does not become an Arab Winter. Nice catchphrase, don't you think? Romney will make available technical assistance to governments and transitional bodies to promote democracy, good governance, and sound financial management. He will engage Congress and relevant executive branch agencies and begin organizing all diplomatic and assistance efforts in the greater Middle East under one regional director. Romney would place a greater focus on ensuring that Egypt remains an ally of the United States. With regard to Syria,  Romney will implement a three-part strategy to undermine the Assad regime and bolster responsible elements of the opposition in order to hasten the transition to a legitimate and pluralistic government: (1) He will undermine Assad’s grip on power by increasing sanctions targeted at his regime, refrain from supporting any diplomatic initiative that allows Assad to remain, and encourage regime members to defect or seek exile.  (2) He will work with regime defectors, marshal our intelligence resources, and work with regional partners to identify, secure, and prevent the export of Syria’s WMD stockpiles. (3) He will work with partners to identify, organize, and facilitate arms to responsible members of the opposition who share our interests and values. In Iraq, Romney will use the broad array of our foreign-policy tools to establish a lasting relationship with Iraq, push back on growing Iranian influence, promote institutions of liberty, and guarantee that Baghdad remains a solid partner in a volatile and strategically vital region. On the surface, having a regional director doesn't seem like a bad idea, but here's the question--to what end will having a regional director any better or worse? Dude readily agrees that the region is in "tumult" and I guess he thinks that another layer of bureaucracy will somehow make things better. For a guy who champions smaller government, this seems to be somewhat contrary to that.  As for Syria and Iraq, Romney's plan seems to be a continuation of the current plan. But again, presumably he'll do it better than the current guy.
• Afghanistan & Pakistan: Romney will review our transition to the Afghan military by holding discussions with our commanders in the field. He will order a full interagency assessment of our military and assistance presence in Afghanistan to determine the level required to secure our gains and to train Afghan forces to the point where they can protect the sovereignty of Afghanistan from the tyranny of the Taliban. Withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan under a Romney administration will be based on conditions on the ground as assessed by our military commanders with the goal of completing the transition of combat operations to the Afghan Army by the end of 2014. He will work with both the Afghan government and Pakistan to ensure that those nations are fully contributing to success in Afghanistan. Sort of hard to provide any commentary on this. What with it being exactly the same thing that we've been doing for the past two years.
• Russia: Russia is a destabilizing force on the world stage. It needs to be tempered. Seriously? Maybe Romney didn't get the memo. The Cold War is over. We won. Upon taking office, Mitt Romney will reset the reset. He will implement a strategy that will seek to discourage aggressive or expansionist behavior on the part of Russia and encourage democratic political and economic reform. Romney will review the implementation of the New START treaty and other decisions by the Obama Administration regarding America's nuclear posture and arms-control policies to determine whether they serve the best interests and national security of the United States. He will pursue policies that work to decrease the reliance of European nations on Russian sources of energy. Good plan. I'm sure messing with one of the few remains sources of income that Russia has will absolutely improve U.S. relations with them. Romney will build stronger relationships with the states of Central Asian by enhancing diplomatic ties, increasing military training and assistance, and negotiating trade pacts and educational exchanges. Sure why not? It's not like the "stans" are anything like those despots in the Middle East. Well actually, they're worse. Romney will support measures to increase the flow of information into Russia that highlights the virtues of free elections, free speech, economic opportunity, and a government free of corruption. 
• China & East Asia: While the potential for conflict with an authoritarian China could rise as its power grows, the United States must pursue policies designed to encourage Beijing to embark on a course that makes conflict less likely. Is it just me, or is everything a zero-sum game with this guy? China must be discouraged from attempting to intimidate or dominate neighboring states. Romney will implement a strategy that makes the path of regional hegemony for China far more costly than the alternative path of becoming a responsible partner in the international system. The United States should maintain and expand its naval presence in the Western Pacific. Admittedly, I am oversimplifying things a bit here, but wouldn't it be logical to conclude if we expand our military presence in the region, that China would necessarily have to ramp up its own defense as a matter of prudence? Romney will bolster cooperation across the board with our traditional allies like Japan, Australia, and South Korea as well as strengthen relationships with partners like India and influential countries like Indonesia. With regard to North Korea, Romney will make it unequivocally clear to Pyongyang that continued advancement of its nuclear program and any aggression will be punished instead of rewarded, and any food aid will be de-linked from the nuclear weapons issue. One wonders how Romney's definition of punishment would be acted upon.
• Africa: Recognizing that Africa’s road to stability and prosperity lies through a robust private sector economy, increased trade, and good governance, a Romney administration will encourage and assist African nations to adopt policies that create business-friendly environments and combat governmental corruption. Romney will also provide the leadership required to help resolve Africa’s long-running conflicts, pressure the remaining despots who abuse their own people, and weaken terrorist groups that threaten U.S. interests and those of our partners. Yeah, okay. At least Africa gets a mention, which is more than can be said of Europe or the United States' single largest trading partner, Canada.
• Latin America: Under a Romney administration, the United States will pursue an active role in Latin America by supporting democratic allies and market-based economic relationships, containing destabilizing internal forces such as criminal gangs and terrorists, and opposing destabilizing outside influences such as Iran. Nice that Romney was able to squeeze in one more dig at Iran. He will launch a vigorous public diplomacy and trade promotion effort in the region—the Campaign for Economic Opportunity in Latin America (CEOLA)—to extol the virtues of democracy and free trade and build on the benefits conferred by the free trade agreements reached with Panama and Colombia, as well as those already in force with Chile, Mexico, Peru, and the members of the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Sounds great don't it? I have no doubt that all those leftist regimes will be tripping over themselves to sign up for this deal. Ain't that right, Mr. Chavez?

We'll wrap up our series next time with Obama's foreign policy plan.