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Dem foreign-policy plank slams GOP's 'Cold War mentality'
Democrats accused the Republican Party of a “Cold War mentality” in the national platform they unveiled Monday, suggesting that a Mitt Romney presidency would keep the United States at war around the world and unsafe at home.
The policy plank for the next four years builds off President Obama's high marks for going after Osama bin Laden while pulling U.S. forces out of Iraq and Afghanistan. And it mocks Romney's statement that Russia is the country's “No. 1 geopolitical foe,” saying such rhetoric endangers collaboration on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.
“The president’s 'reset' policy toward Russia has produced significant cooperation in these areas, as well as in Russian support for the Northern Distribution Network that supplies our troops in Afghanistan,” says the plank, which vows to be “candid” about topics of disagreement with Russia.
“Mitt Romney has been both for and against our timeline to end the war in Afghanistan,” the plank says, “but he has failed to outline any policy ideas for how he would bring our troops home and, at times, has suggested he would leave them there indefinitely.”
The plank also defends the Obama administration's handling of the situations in Syria and Iran, the two biggest foreign-policy challenges currently facing the United States.
In Syria, it says, the administration has “led the international community to politically and economically isolate the regime, to increase pressure on President Bashar Assad to step down, and to provide assistance to unify the Syrian opposition in order to enable a stable transition.
“Moving forward, we will work to hasten the end of the Assad regime and support a political transition to a stable and democratic Syria,” adds the platform, without providing specifics.
Regarding Iran, a potential weak point for the administration as Israel warns that the country's nuclear weapons program continues unabated, the platform defends Obama for having diplomatically isolated Iran.
“When President Obama took office, Iran was ascendant in the region, and the international community was divided over how to address Iran’s nuclear violations,” it states. “Working with our European allies and with Russia and China, the administration gained unprecedented agreement for the toughest ever UN sanctions against Iran, laying the foundation for additional national financial and energy sanctions imposed by the United States and other nations.
"As a result, Iran is now increasingly isolated and the regime faces crippling economic pressure – pressure that will only build over time.”
