In an interview with Fox News’ Carl Cameron, Paul Ryan tried put his foreign policy credentials up against President Obama by stating that the fact that he voted to invade the wrong country to find Osama bin Laden proves that he has more foreign policy experience than the President who went to the right country to find Osama bin Laden.
From Mediaite:
“I’ve been in Congress for a number of years,” he told Cameron. “That’s more experience than Barack Obama had when he came into office.”
“I voted to send people to war,” he added.
As a congressman, Ryan voted for the 2002 Iraq Resolution which authorized President George W. Bush to use military force in Iraq. He also voted in favor of the Iraq War troop “surge” in 2007.
The VP nominee then went on to make the case for presidential nominee Mitt Romney‘s vision of “peace through strength,” adding that President Obama’s foreign policy has, thus far, failed to accomplish that.
Here’s the video:
Despite the fact that Obama’s foreign policy credentials include,
- Killing the man we allegedly went to Iraq to find
- Killing Bin Laden’s number two, Anwar Al Awlaki
- Ending the Iraq War
- Strengthened relationship with Israel – Israel’s Defense Minister, Ehud Barak praised Obama, calling him a “leader.”
- De-escalating the Afghanistan War
- The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which will cut the number of Russian and American nuclear missile launchers in half.
- Helping bring down Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi
- Closed secret detention facilities
- Tried to close GITMO, even signed an executive order, but wasn’t given funding and authorization from Congress (no one wanted terrorists in their districts)
- Iranian sanctions
- Repealed Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
- Compared to the Bush era, the world loves us again
You may not agree with all of Obama’s accomplishments. I may not even agree with all his foreign policy accomplishments (for example, I’m not happy with the Indefinite Detention Act), but Obama is neither the inexperienced dove that the right accuses him of, nor is he Bush 2.0, as some on the left claim.
On the other hand, the Romney/Ryan ticket has virtually no foreign policy experience and Romney’s greatest foreign accomplishment seems to be offending our allies. Based on Ryan’s voting record and on Romney’s words, we can be sure to look forward to more war. Obama, it seems, feels that war is a last resort.
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