Explore Candidates → Tom Tancredo on Iraq and Foreign Policy
Tom Tancredo on Iraq and Foreign Policy
Q: Last week you said that, in order to deter an attack by Islamic terrorists using nuclear weapons, you would threaten to bomb Mecca and Medina. The State Department called that "reprehensible" & "absolutely crazy." TANCREDO: Yes, the State Department--boy, when they start complaining about things I say, I feel a lot better about the things I say, I'll tell you right now. My task as president is primarily to do one thing--not to make sure everybody has health care or everybody's child is educated--my task is to do one thing: to protect and defend this country. And that means to deter--and I want to underline "deter" -- any kind of aggression, especially the type we are threatened with by Al Qaida, which is nuclear attack. I read the national intelligence estimate. I see what they are planning. And I'm telling you right now that anybody that would suggest that we should take anything like this off the table in order to deter that kind of event in the United States isn't fit to be president.
2007 GOP Iowa Straw Poll debate Aug 5, 2007
Darfur Legislation Sponsorships * Genocide Accountability Act/Darfur Peace and Accountability Act Co-Sponsored * NATO Bridging Force Co-Sponsored * Presidential Special Envoy Co-Sponsored * Darfur Accountability and Divestment Act Co-Sponsored Votes * Darfur Peace and Accountability Act Voted For * Funding Amendment for Protection Voted For * Funding Amendment for Humanitarian Aid Voted For * NATO Bridging Force Voted For * Presidential Special Envoy Voted For
Rep. Tancredo (R-CO) opposed the February denuclearization deal with North Korea and supports a stronger approach. In a March 2007 piece for the Denver Post, he calls North Korea an "economic vessel" of China . For that reason, says Tancredo, the United States should pressure Beijing to push Pyongyang to end its nuclear program. He suggests making it clear to China that if North Korea fails to abandon its program, Washington will deploy theater missile defense systems in South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan.
Tancredo has repeatedly said that the United States should support the Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (MEK), a prominent militant anti-Iran group based in Iraq that the State Department deems a terrorist organization. Tancredo says "I'd like them to be a little thorn in the side of the government of Iran."
Q: Imagine you're president, and you get a call from the prime minister of Israel saying Israel is about to strike Iran's nuclear sites and he wants US help. What do you say? TANCREDO: There are two kinds of Irans that we are going to have to deal with here: one headed by a gentleman who believes that he is going to be responsible for the coming of the 12th imam; and a guy with a bomb, that should put us in the position of saying that anything we can do to stop that is imperative. And if Israel is put in that position, and we need to be involved in order to protect both ourselves and the Israelis, then of course we respond in the appropriate fashion. Q: If the prime minister asks you for help, you say you will say yes? TANCREDO: Well, there are conditions, of course, under which we would say yes. But if there is a threat to the existence of Israel, which is a potential threat to the existence of the United States, then you have to come to the aid of Israel.
2007 GOP primary debate, at Reagan library, hosted by MSNBC May 3, 2007
Tancredo sponsored a Congressional Resolution expressing solidarity with Israel: * [The United States] expresses solidarity with Israel as it takes necessary steps to provide security to its people by dismantling the terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian areas; and * Commits to Israel's right to self-defense and support for additional U.S. assistance. * Condemns the recent wave of Palestinian suicide bombings and the ongoing support and coordination of terror by Yasir Arafat and other members of the Palestinian leadership. * Demands that the Palestinian Authority fulfill its commitment to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian areas. * Expresses concern that Arafat's actions are not those of a viable partner for peace. * Urges all Arab states to declare their unqualified opposition to all forms of terrorism, particularly suicide bombing, and all parties in the region to pursue peace in the Middle East. * Commends the President for his leadership in addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. * Encourages the international community to take action to alleviate the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people.
House Resolution Sponsorship 02-HR392 on Apr 18, 2002
The 250-169 roll call Thursday by which the House voted to keep the economic embargo of Cuba in place. A ""yes"" is a vote to end the embargo, a ""no"" is a vote to keep the embargo in place. Tancredo voted NO.
Vote NO on a bill to provide $15.2 billion for foreign operations in FY 2000. Among other provisions, the bill would provide $1.82 billion over three years for implementation of the Wye River peace accord in the Middle East. In addition, the measure would provide $123 million in multilateral debt relief and would contribute $25 million to the United National Population Fund.
Bill sponsored by Callahan, R-AL; Bill HR 3196 ; vote number 1999-572 on Nov 5, 1999
Rep. Tancredo (R-CO) has not addressed this topic often, but favors reform of the United Nations, voting for the UN Reform Act of 2005.
Q: Do you believe we should be part of the United Nations? TANCREDO: I'll tell you this. We pay about 27% of the costs and we get about a 100% of the grief of the United Nations. This United Nations has grown into something that I think has outlived its usefulness.
Question: Recently several former governmental officials, including Henry Kissinger, have called for the "reassertion of the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons." What is your vision of the roll of nuclear weapons? Tancredo: I really am a Reganite when it comes to that. I believe that you should negotiate down to zero. The problem is that you are... it's a different world that we now find ourselves, and uh, different challenges towards negotiations. You can negotiate with countries. You can negotiate the amount of nuclear a country's going to have, and the stockpile they're going to maintain, and you can negotiate that downwards. What you can't negotiate, of course, is with a terrorist who is trying to put one together someplace and get it into your country.
Q: You have talked about November as a timeframe for beginning to pull some of our troops back from the frontlines, and you opposed the troop surge? TANCREDO: ...The president said, "I am establishing a benchmark of November for the Iraqi government to be in control of all 18 provinces of Iraq." I believe that that is a good benchmark to set. I will support him in that effort, & I will support our troops while they are in the field in every single way I can.
2007 Republican Debate in South Carolina May 15, 2007
Voted NO on redeploying US troops out of Iraq starting in 90 days
Out of Iraq Caucus bill; Bill H R 2237 ; vote number 2007-330 on May 10, 2007
Voted YES on declaring Iraq part of War on Terror with no exit date
Resolution on Prevailing in the Global War on Terror; Bill HRES 861 ; vote number 2006-288 on Jun 12, 2006
Q: Explain precisely your stance on the president's new strategy to increase the number of US troops in Baghdad and Al Anbar province. TANCREDO: I would not have and I did not support that, whether you want to call it a surge or a reinforcement or whatever, and I didn't because primarily I listened to the people on the ground, I listened to the generals who were in charge of the operation.
CNN Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer (presidential series) Mar 4, 2007
Like many of my friends on both sides of the aisle and like many Americans, I am opposed to increasing our troop levels in Iraq.
Q: Rep. Tancredo, you are one of those congressional Republicans who talks about disengaging from Iraq. You have talked about November as a timeframe for beginning to pull some of our troops back from the frontlines. Are you in effect giving our enemies a timetable for retreat? TANCREDO: We are going to have troops in Iraq or in the region for a long time...The question is, will the troops be a constabulary force, which I do not believe they should be? Will they be a supporting force for the Iraqi government, which I believe they should be?