Mitt Romney must challenge President Barack Obama on a foreign policy that is riddled with many “mistakes that have made us less safe,” South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham told Newsmax.TV in an exclusive interview from the Republican National Convention in Tampa.
“I would challenge Obama on his Israeli policy. He’s throwing Israel under the bus. Suggesting they go back to the 1967 borders is absurd,” Graham said to Newsmax.
Last year, Obama urged that a Palestinian state be based on the 1967 borders, those that existed before the Six Day War in which Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza. It marked a significant shift in U.S. policy and angered Israel.
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“I would argue that the Obama administration has been hands off when it comes to Syria. If you take Assad out, that’s Iran’s best ally,” Graham continued, referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “I would talk about detention policy, about interrogation policy, and about the lack of resolve to confront radical Islam at a time when it matters.
“I would stress greatly that Israel’s in a box, in a bind, and the Obama policies have made us less safe when it comes to fighting radical Islam. If I were Romney, I would take this fight right to him.”
Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that the former Massachusetts governor should give Obama credit for authorizing the mission that killed Osama bin Laden — “That was a tough call; he made the right call" — but that Romney himself must be definitive in his foreign policy agenda.
“He needs to be clear: ‘If I’m president, we’re not going to read terrorists their Miranda rights. If I’m president, we’re going to stand by Israel without equivocation,’” Graham said. “And when I tell Israel that we have their back, here’s what I mean: We need to tell Assad to go, or else. We need to let the Iranians know that they’ll never acquire nuclear capability without one hell of a fight.”
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And, with Afghanistan, “I would say: ‘I want to leave Afghanistan, but it’s important that we leave behind a stable Afghanistan — and our national security will not be judged by the day the last troop leaves. It will be judged by what we left behind.’”
“Obama never talks about winning; he only talks about leaving,” added Graham, who said that he met last week with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. “And the Iranians are watching us everywhere.
“If you really wanted to change Iran’s behavior, help the international community. Lead the international community to get rid of Assad. That would be the biggest game-changer in the Mideast, and what are we doing? Sitting on the sidelines while thousands get murdered and raped.
“It is in our strategic interest, much more in Syria than Libya, to be decisive. Assad’s going to go one day, and the people who take over are going to see us as an indifferent ally, not a friend.
“We live in dangerous times — and I can’t think of a more uncertain trumpet sounding than that of Barack Obama.”
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