Mitt Romney challenged President Barack Obama to attack the issues and enemies of peace rather than simply arguing with him during the final debate of the 2012 presidential debate cycle.
“Attacking me is not talking about how we're going to deal with the challenges that exist in the Middle East and take advantage of the opportunity there and stem the tide of this violence.”
Romney mentioned the “principles of peace” about what is happening in the Middle East and around the globe. Romney outlined those principles as:
• A stronger economy
• stronger military
• strong alliances with foreign powers
Romney also said that the United States must take advantage of its series of allies. “We are the great nation that has allies,” he said.
The candidate also explained in detail his view on how to make the Middle East a safer place, both for Israel and the United States.
“Well, my strategy's pretty straightforward, which is to go after the bad guys, to make sure we do our very best to interrupt them, to — to kill them, to take them out of the picture. But my strategy is broader than — than that,” Romney said.
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“That's — that's important, of course, but the key that we're going to have to pursue is a — is a pathway to — to get the Muslim world to be able to reject extremism on its own. We don't want another Iraq. We don't want another Afghanistan. That's not the right course for us. The right course for us is to make sure that we go after the — the people who are leaders of these various anti-American groups and these — these jihadists, but also help the Muslim world.”
Syria took center stage during the debate. Romney reiterated his belief that defeating the despotic Assad regime was important, but American troops on the ground are not the answer.
“As I indicated, our objectives are to replace Assad and to have in place a new government which is friendly to us — a responsible government, if possible. And I want to make sure the get armed and they have the arms necessary to defend themselves but also to remove — to remove Assad. But I do not want to see a military involvement on the part of — of our — of our troops.”
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