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Mike Huckabee on Iraq and Foreign Policy
This candidate has withdrawn from the election
Setting a timetable for withdrawal is a mistake. This country has never declared war until "a week from Wednesday," we have always declared war until victory.
"Lets make sure we don't make a bigger mistake by a pre-mature pull out that does leave Iraq vulnerable to an AL-Quida long term training facility."
Q: Should we continue the troop surge, even though it will take at least a year for minimal improvement? HUCKABEE: We have to continue the surge, and let me explain why. When I was a little kid, if I went into a store with my mother, she had a simple rule for me: If I picked something off the shelf at the store and I broke it, I bought it. I learned I don't pick something off the shelf I can't afford to buy. Well, what we did in Iraq, we essentially broke it. It's our responsibility to do the best we can to try to fix it before we just turn away.
2007 GOP debate at UNH, sponsored by Fox News Sep 5, 2007
Q: If you were in the Senate or the House, would you vote to oppose the president sending more troops to Iraq? HUCKABEE: I think that's a dangerous position to take, to oppose a sitting commander in chief while we've got people being shot at on the ground. I think it's one thing to have a debate and a discussion about this strategy, but to openly oppose, in essence, the strategy, I think that can be a very risky thing for our troops.
Meet the Press: Meet the Candidates 2008 series Jan 28, 2007
"The surge is a military means to achieve the political end of sectarian reconciliation among the Iraqis."
I 100% agree that we can't leave until we've left with honor because, whether or not we should have gone to Iraq is a discussion the historians can have, but we're there. We bought it because we broke it. We've got a responsibility to the honor of this country and to the honor of every man and woman who has served in Iraq and ever served in our military to not leave them with anything less than the honor that they deserve
2007 GOP debate at UNH, sponsored by Fox News Sep 5, 2007
Q:What do you see as the long-term role for the U.S. in Iraq and its obligation to that country, if any? HUCKABEE:Well, long term, once we find a way to remove ourselves from a day-to-day operation, I hope that we'd leave them alone. But for the time being, we certainly have to make sure that we don't leave it in a bigger mess than it was already in. The good news for us, even though some members of Congress don't seem to want to be able to take yes for an answer, the initial reports are that there is significant progress that is being made.
Huckabee had harsh words for Pakistan, which he called ``the corporate headquarters'' of al-Qaeda. In an interview after his address, Huckabee said he would not close off the possibility of taking unilateral action against terrorist cells in Pakistan if it was necessary to protect the American people from al-Qaeda. Further, Huckabee said his administration would meet with rogue leaders to keep a dialogue going.
In response to a question about the US role in ending the genocide in Darfur, Huckabee responded: I think we have some role to play in it, but I guess what disturbs me even more, we have not even addressed the genocide that's going on and the infanticide in our own country with the slaughter of millions of unborn children.
Huckabee had harsh words for Pakistan, which he called ``the corporate headquarters'' of al-Qaeda. In an interview after his address, Huckabee said he would not close off the possibility of taking unilateral action against terrorist cells in Pakistan if it was necessary to protect the American people from al-Qaeda. Further, Huckabee said his administration would meet with rogue leaders to keep a dialogue going.
Normally we speak to Iran only indirectly, through the Swiss embassy in Tehran. Our recent direct negotiations about Iraq have been very narrowly-focused and not productive because we are not exploring the full range of issues. We have valuable incentives to offer Iran in exchange for helping to stabilize Iraq; not supporting the Taliban, Hamas, and Hezbollah; and abandoning its nuclear ambitions--trade and economic assistance, full diplomatic relations and security guarantees. While there can be no rational dealing with Al Qaeda, Iran is a nation state looking for regional power, it plays the normal power politics that we understand and can skillfully pursue, and we have substantive issues to negotiate with them.
"We would talk with anybody...there is a difference between conversation and negotiation...before you can have the negotiation you have to have a conversation to determine whether there is a frame of reference for any future discussion, but I don't think it is ever just completely wrong to keep lines of communication open."
From Huckabee's book: I've visited Israel 9 times, and strongly believe in its right to exist & the important example it has set forth in its seriousness toward its own security as well as the admirable expectation it has of its people to be stakeholders in its preservation. Even though I support Israel, its boundaries, and its future, and believe its alliance with the US is one of great strategic value, a conversation with a Palestinian reminded me that the issue is not simple.
From Hope to Higher Ground, by Mike Huckabee, p.137 Jan 4, 2007
Mike Huckabee, the GOP governor of Arkansas, wrote to President Bush seeking action against the embargo on Cuba.
When asked if the US should increase foreign aid, Huckabee says, "most of the time foreign aid efforts represent a very small portion of expenditure, but it should be limited to purely humanitarian efforts. We should not be made to feel responsible for building the infrastructure of other nations when the infrastructure of our own nation is choking on congested traffic both on the roads and in the air as well as an antiquated system of roads, bridges, airports, water and sewage systems."
Huckabee said he wouldn't mind if UN headquarters in New York "were to break off and float in the East River never to be seen again." After his speech, Huckabee told reporters that he would work with the UN as long as the country maintained its sovereignty. "It would only be a danger if there were Americans who somehow felt that we had an obligation to yield ourselves to a law other than our own Constitution and the laws we create," he said.
Tonight Mike Huckabee attended a house party in Franklin. A very polite and courteous gentleman, he was asked "Sam Nunn and Henry Kissinger have called for nuclear abolition. Do you support nuclear abolition?" Answer: He would not call for abolishing nuclear weapons while other countries still have nuclear weapons. Questioner then asked: will you promise to reduce the 10,000 nuclear weapons to 2,000 to comply with the Moscow Treaty by 2012? HUCKABEE: He would not reduce nuclear stockpiles because he did not want the US to become weak and be unable to defend itself.
Question: When you are elected president would you support reducing our stockpile of nuclear weapons? Response: He said he stands for a strong military, and said we do need resources to fight today's war on terror.