Sunday, August 31, 2008
Opinion

McCain vs. Biden

The past seven-plus years have shown us that "foreign policy experience," in and of itself, isn't all it's cracked up to be...

By Arianna Huffington

The past seven-plus years have shown us that "foreign policy experience," in and of itself, isn't all it's cracked up to be. For Exhibit A, look no further than George Bush's most "experienced" foreign policy advisor: Dick Cheney. And Don Rumsfeld had spent lots of time on the foreign policy practice field, too.

What's great about Barck Obama’s vice presidential pick, Joe Biden isn't just that he has "foreign policy expertise," it's that his approach favors diplomacy and engagement—backed up by a toughness that allowed him to confront Slobodan Milosevic.

Judging by his track record, McCain's experience has apparently taught him that pretty much every problem in the world has a military solution.

Back in 2000, during a GOP debate, McCain was asked by Larry King, "What area of American international policy would you change immediately as president?"

McCain's reply? "I'd institute a policy that I call 'rogue state rollback.' I would arm, train, equip, both from without and from within, forces that would eventually overthrow the governments and install free and democratically elected governments. ... As long as Saddam Hussein is in power, I am convinced that he will pose a threat to our security."

But as the subsequent years have proven, there is a limit to what the military can achieve on its own. Just last week, the New York Times reported how Iraq's Shiite-controlled government is now going after the American-backed Sunni leaders of the "Anbar Awakening," the movement of tribal sheikhs that banded together to fight al-Qaida and bring security to the Anbar region.

"If it is not handled properly, we could have a security issue," said Brigadier Gen. David Perkins.

Yes, Biden voted for the war (a decision he says he regrets), but he made it clear that our goal in Iraq should be limited to ending Iraq's weapons programs—not achieving "rogue state rollback."

What's more, right before the war vote, Biden reached across the aisle and, with the help of Dick Lugar and Chuck Hagel, two of his Republican colleagues on the Foreign Relations committee, helped craft a proposal that would limit the president's ability to wage war on Iraq, forcing him to seek U.N. approval. And, if the U.N. had said no, Bush would have had to return to Congress and prove that the Iraqi WMD threat was so "grave" that only military action could eliminate it.

That bipartisan effort was torpedoed by Bush. We can expect more of the same from McCain. SP