Romney to propose new sanctions on Iran, new help for Syrian rebels

LEXINGTON, Va. Republican nominee Mitt Romney will accuse President Obama of "passive" leadership in the Middle East in what aides are calling a major foreign-policy address Monday at Virginia Military Institute. "Hope is not a strategy," he will say, according to excerpts released in advance of the late-morning address.

Romney plans to call for more direct intervention in Syria, including making sure anti-government opposition forces have weapons. He also plans to criticize the Obama administration for its initial focus on an anti-Islamic video as the trigger for an attack that killed four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, including U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens.

The renewed focus on foreign policy comes after several weeks of unrest in the Middle East resulting in widespread protests, attacks on multiple American embassies, and the deadly attacks in Benghzai. Romney plans to call the recent attacks "expressions of a larger struggle that is playing out across the broader Middle East" and argue for changing course in the region.

Romney, who has little foreign policy experience on his resume, has been criticized for some of his previous statements on international affairs. An overseas trip he took in July was largely overshadowed by negative reaction to comments he made about England's lack of preparation for the Olympics and a perceived slight of Palestinians, whom he implied were culturally inferior to their Jewish neighbors. He took heat for an inaccurate, premature attack on the Obama administration as events were unfolding in Libya. Most recently, he offended Spanish leaders when he said in the debate that he doesn't want the U.S. to "go down the path of Spain."

The VMI speech gives Romney an opportunity to make "voters comfortable with Romney as commander in chief," said Republican strategist and former McCain adviser Ford O'Connell. He pointed to a recent Gallup poll that shows Mr. Obama with higher foreign policy approval ratings than Romney and said the goal of the speech is also to "close that gap a little bit."

The Obama campaign is dismissing Romney's planned speech.

Obama campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki says, "We are not going to be lectured by someone who's been an unmitigated disaster on foreign policy every time he sticks his toe in the foreign policy waters."

She called it Romney's fourth or fifth try to explain his foreign policy goals.

Here are some of the areas Romney will address during his speech, according to experts released in advance:

LIBYA

"The attack on our Consulate in Benghazi on September 11th, 2012 was likely the work of the same forces that attacked our homeland on September 11th, 2001. This latest assault cannot be blamed on a reprehensible video insulting Islam, despite the administration's attempts to convince us of that for so long. No, as the administration has finally conceded, these attacks were the deliberate work of terrorists who use violence to impose their dark ideology on others, especially women and girls; who are fighting to control much of the Middle East today; and who seek to wage perpetual war on the West."

Romney is expected to say that he will support "the Libyan people's efforts to forge a lasting government that represents all of them," while also pursuing those who attacked the consulate. This position is the same as Mr. Obama's.

SYRIA

On Syria, Romney plans to directly call for the United States to help arm the Syrian opposition. "In Syria, I will work with our partners to identify and organize those members of the opposition who share our values and ensure they obtain the arms they need to defeat Assad's tanks, helicopters, and fighter jets," Romney will say.

Romney has previously said the U.S. needs to "be ready to take whatever action is necessary to ensure that we do not have-- any kind of weapon of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorists," but has not yet said so specifically that he would help the opposition fighters obtain weapons.

The Obama administration is providing non-lethal aid such as intelligence, and The New York Times reported that the CIA is helping allies make sure they are sending arms to fighters who are not terrorists.

IRAN

"I will not hesitate to impose new sanctions on Iran, and will tighten the sanctions we currently have. I will restore the permanent presence of aircraft carrier task forces in both the Eastern Mediterranean and the Gulf the region--and work with Israel to increase our military assistance and coordination," Romney will say.

The Obama administration has imposed unilateral financial and energy sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, in addition to four sets of sanctions imposed by the United Nations since 2006. The sanctions are partially responsible for the Iranian currency dropping by almost 40 percent in value in the past week and are having "significant" effects on the Iranian people, according to United Nations chief Ban Ki Moon.

AFGHANISTAN

Romney, who just this week conceded that the Afghan surge, approved by Mr. Obama in 2009, was a success, will call for "a real and successful transition to Afghan security forces by the end of 2014."

While Mr. Obama has already called for all American troops to be out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014, Romney has criticized the president for setting a public deadline and disregarding calls by some commanders to allow some troops to stay beyond that deadline.

"I will evaluate conditions on the ground and weigh the best advice of our military commanders," Romney will say. "And I will affirm that my duty is not to my political prospects, but to the security of the nation."

ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS

Romney plans to say that he will "recommit America to the goal of a democratic, prosperous Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with the Jewish state of Israel."

In a video of remarks at a private fundraiser that was recently released by Mother Jones magazine, Romney says he is torn by two perspectives of the conflict. On one hand he describes a view that he's "had for some time, which is that the Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace." Romney goes onto say that in this line of thinking you have to "sort of live with it, and we kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve it."

But he also tells the donors that he had heard from a former secretary of state who believes there is a prospect for a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. "I always keep open the idea," he concluded in the taped remarks.

Romney plans to argue at VMI that Mr. Obama has failed both Israel and Palestine, saying that "what should be a negotiation process has devolved into a series of heated disputes at the United Nations. In this old conflict, as in every challenge we face in the Middle East, only a new president will bring the chance to begin anew."

[BBKenobi]

We've seen this in Romney for years--he is the CEO who will say whatever he wants to "close the deal", like with Bain: "we'll fix your company--sell it to us" then fires all the employees and outsources the factory. He will tell Grandma "your Social Security is safe" then get elected and turn Grandma over to vouchers with insurance companies who won't honor them as they will outright refuse to insure seniors. Then whatever they save will get refunded to the uber-wealthy "job creators" so they can store more money in the Caymans.

So when he starts making nice, beware. You're next. His vision to create jobs is that factory in China with bunkhouses and barbed-wire fences with armed guard towers. Instead of making things better, we compete with China by going back to the 1890 Guilded Age of Robber Barons and child labor.

[Lindag20]

Romney doing a little more "armchair quarterbacking" I see. Seems like he's changed position on Afghanistan again. What else is new?

[mentalist65]

It's easy to sit back and complain. Romney...put your sons where your mouth is.

[GOP-R--Con-Men]

Yep, Romney is so centrist he picked Paul Ryan a devotee of atheist russian philosopher Ayn Rand. Her beliefs are every man/woman for themself and if hardships befall you, you are on your own with NO HELP from government. Ryan's budget reflects her philosophy. So much so that the catholic bishops and nuns came down on Ryan as a catholic, stating his budget punishes the least agmonst us (poor, elderly.

Ryan in fact favors the philosophy of atheist Ayn Rand over the teachings of Jesus.

I trust nothing with a (R)=Republican associated with it. Their record proves they will lie without apology and cannot be trusted to work to benefit ordinary Americans. Republicans have shown a vote for republicans and Romney/Ryan is a vote for corporations, big oil, big pharma and the super rich and against yourself if you are not in the one percent.

[filmguy107]

Blah Blah Blah. Mr. Mittens is shaking his Etch-A-Sketch as I type this. Round and round it goes...where it lands, nobody knows......

[doublediprecession2013]

And, when Stevens requested protection and a safety exit from the country, the Administration denied his requests and ignored the attacks in Lybia leading up to his murder. The President has one all important Constitutional responsibility: to protect us. He is the Commander in Chief. He has failed miserably on this count. And rather than own up to it and fix it, he denies it and he blames others. Do you trust him to protect you, your children, your loved ones if we are attacked abroad again or at home? Or do you think he will do what he always does, deny and blame.

[Repubs_R_Fiscal_Liberals]

The President has one all important Constitutional responsibility: to protect us. He is the Commander in Chief. He has failed miserably on this count. And rather than own up to it and fix it, he denies it and he blames others. Do you trust him to protect you, your children, your loved ones if we are attacked abroad again or at home? Or do you think he will do what he always does, deny and blame.

-----------

Yep.

Do you also apply that to GWB on 9/11? You should, if you don't.

[Repubs_R_Fiscal_Liberals]

Romney's Step 1:

Grab ankles for Israel's sake.
.

[Lindag20]

Anything for his buddy Bibi

[doublediprecession2013]

On September 11th, why didn't the Administration have our Ambassador and other key Americans abroad who work for the Administration, protected? They didn't even have weapons with real bullets! Moreover, why was Stevens there at all on that day? He was supposedly stationed in Tripoli instead. But it gets worse, within 24 hours of the brutal murders (if you research this you will see how brutal it was!)our Intelligence knew it was terrorists. Yet the Administration lied to us for 2 weeks! Two weeks later the President said to the UN it was something other than terrorism. It was until after that speech that his Administration started to admit it was terrorism. They blamed it on our Intelligence agencies for not having the information until much later. But the Intelligence agencies say that is not in fact true. You have to ask yourself, who has the motive to cover up the truth? That's right, and the Administration thinks you are stupid that's why they thought this cover-up would be ignored by you. Keep it up, Obama supporters! You're doing just what they expect you to do: look the other way. Blame the other guy. In this case a ridiculous 15 minute utube video that came out in July, months before the murders, that only few had viewed.

[Repubs_R_Fiscal_Liberals]

Yep - no preparation for an impending attack they knew was imminent.

Reminds me of GWB on 9/11.

Perspective sucks, doesn't it?

[Repubs_R_Fiscal_Liberals]

GWB told President Chirac that Iraq should be invaded because the "time of Gog and Magog is here".

That refers to the Book of Revelation, and the Apocalypse, or "End Times". The man is seriously insane.

'The story has now been confirmed by Chirac himself in a new book, published in France in March, by journalist Jean Claude Maurice. Chirac is said to have been stupefied and disturbed by Bush's invocation of Biblical prophesy to justify the war in Iraq and "wondered how someone could be so superficial and fanatical in their beliefs".'

[the_egret]

The days when the U.S. could pick which dictator was most sympathetic to us and support him are obviously long past. It was a practice that has come round to bite us in many parts of the world. We said we wanted people to choose their own leaders; now when they do (Egypt) and we don't like the result, it serves some interests to critique the U.S. administration.

We do not know whether the Syrian rebels would be better or worse than the current regime, and in any event it is not our business to intervene. Enough of these endless wars. The people pushing for them - that's you, Mitt Romney - are following a policy of nation-building in one's own image that hasn't worked ever since the First Crusade in 1096, when the West vs. Islam fight was begun. By the West.

An increase in defense spending our own defense department hasn't asked for and doesn't want at a time of lip-service to reducing the deficit and improving our economy is sheer nonsense. We already have more military capability than the next dozen countries combined.

Romney has already demonstrated how little he understands of the world and foreign policy. He called Russia our #1 enemy; Putin thanked him for clarifying that. He pandered to Israel by claiming Palestinians had no interest in peace (how about Netanyahu?) He claimed the President sympathized with rioters in Cairo (he didn't) and says Obama has been on an "apology tour" for the U.S., for which there is no backup whatever.

The man is a foreign policy naive. Do not let him get his finger on the button.

[Logical123]

Romney is an ignoramus when it comes to foreign policy, specially when it comes to Iran. Does he even the foggiest notion what all this supposed conflict with Iran is about? All he knows that Iran is the boogeyman and he must put sanctions on it. Even Obama's policies on Iran are stupid, but Romney would be a disaster.