| Foreign Policy, Iraq | | |
| OBAMA | | MCCAIN |
| | | Military posturing with Iran, Syria, and [implied] any country that doesn't serve our interests |
| Diplomacy with Iran, and any country. | | |
| | | Stay in Iraq- advocates continuing the successful counterinsurgency strategy that began in 2007. |
| A Responsible, Phased Withdrawal - directed by military commanders on the ground and done in consultation with the Iraqi government. Military experts believe we can safely redeploy combat brigades from Iraq at a pace of 1 to 2 brigades a month that would remove them in 16 months. That would be the summer of 2010 – more than 7 years after the war began.
- a residual force will remain in Iraq and in the region to conduct targeted counter-terrorism missions against al Qaeda in Iraq and to protect American diplomatic and civilian personnel.
- They will not build permanent bases in Iraq, but will continue efforts to train and support the Iraqi security forces as long as Iraqi leaders move toward political reconciliation and away from sectarianism.
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| Encouraging Political Accommodation
engage representatives from all levels of Iraqi society—in and out of government—to forge compromises on oil revenue sharing, the equitable provision of services, federalism, the status of disputed territories, new elections, aid to displaced Iraqis, and the reform of Iraqi security forces. | | push for more political reconciliation in Iraq |
| | | Encourage middle east countries to invest in Iraq to improve economy. |
| Preventing Humanitarian Crisis
form an international working group to address this crisis. He will provide at least $2 billion to expand services to Iraqi refugees in neighboring countries, and ensure that Iraqis inside their own country can find sanctuary. | | |
| Surging Diplomacy - launch an aggressive diplomatic effort to reach a comprehensive compact on the stability of Iraq and the region. This effort will include all of Iraq's neighbors—including Iran and Syria,
- aim to secure Iraq's borders; keep neighboring countries from meddling inside Iraq;
- isolate al Qaeda;
- support reconciliation among Iraq's sectarian groups;
- and provide financial support for Iraq's reconstruction and development.
- work with Iraqi authorities and the international community to hold the perpetrators of potential war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide accountable.
- They will reserve the right to intervene militarily, with our international partners, to suppress potential genocidal violence within Iraq.
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| The Status-of-Forces-Agreement - any Status of Forces Agreement, or any strategic framework agreement, should be negotiated in the context of a broader commitment by the U.S. to begin withdrawing its troops and forswearing permanent bases.
- any security accord must be subject to Congressional approval.
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| Foreign Policy, General | | |
| | | Military posturing with Iran, Syria, and [implied] any country that doesn't serve our interests |
| | | Increase military size |
| | | develop missile defense system |
| | | modernize military |
| Talk to our Foes and Friends: willing to meet with the leaders of all nations, friend and foe... And if America is willing to come to the table, the world will be more willing to rally behind American leadership to deal with challenges like terrorism, and Iran and North Korea's nuclear programs. | | |
| Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
make progress on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a key diplomatic priority. ... achieve the goal of two states, a Jewish state in Israel and a Palestinian state | | |
| Fight Global Poverty: - cutting extreme poverty around the world in half by 2015
- double our foreign assistance to $50 billion to achieve that goal.
- help the world's weakest states to build healthy and educated communities, reduce poverty, develop markets, and generate wealth.
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| Strengthen NATO:
rally NATO members to contribute troops to collective security operations, urging them to invest more in reconstruction and stabilization operations, streamlining the decision-making processes, and giving NATO commanders in the field more flexibility. | | |
| Seek New Partnerships in Asia: - forge a more effective framework in Asia that goes beyond bilateral agreements, occasional summits, and ad hoc arrangements,
- maintain strong ties with allies like Japan, South Korea and Australia; work to build an infrastructure with countries in East Asia that can promote stability and prosperity;
- work to ensure that China plays by international rules.
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| Secure Loose Nuclear Materials from Terrorists: - secure all loose nuclear materials in the world within four years.
- negotiate a verifiable global ban on the production of new nuclear weapons material.
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| Strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty:
crack down on nuclear proliferation by strengthening the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty so that countries like North Korea and Iran that break the rules will automatically face strong international sanctions. | | |
| Toward a Nuclear Free World: - set a goal of a world without nuclear weapons, and pursue it.
- always maintain a strong deterrent as long as nuclear weapons exist. But they will take several steps down the long road toward eliminating nuclear weapons.
- They will stop the development of new nuclear weapons;
- work with Russia to take U.S. and Russian ballistic missiles off hair trigger alert;
- seek dramatic reductions in U.S. and Russian stockpiles of nuclear weapons and material;
- set a goal to expand the U.S.-Russian ban on intermediate- range missiles so that the agreement is global.
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| Consultative Group:
convene a bipartisan Consultative Group of leading members of Congress to foster better executive-legislative relations and bipartisan unity on foreign policy. ...[including] the chair and ranking members of the Armed Services, Foreign Relations, Intelligence, and Appropriations Committees. This group will meet with the president once a month to review foreign policy priorities, and will be consulted in advance of military action. | | |
| Getting Politics out of Intelligence:
insulate the Director of National Intelligence from political pressure by giving the DNI a fixed term, like the Chairman of the Federal Reserve.
seek consistency and integrity at the top of our intelligence community – not just a political ally. | | |
| Change the Culture of Secrecy:
reverse President Bush's policy of secrecy. He will institute a National Declassification Center to make declassification secure but routine, efficient, and cost-effective. | | |
| Engaging the American People on Foreign Policy:
bring foreign policy decisions directly to the people by requiring his national security officials to have periodic national broadband town hall meetings to discuss foreign policy. They will personally deliver occasional fireside chats via webcast. | | |
| Ensure a Strong U.S.-Israel Partnership:
strongly support the U.S.-Israel relationship, believe that our first and incontrovertible commitment in the Middle East must be to the security of Israel, America's strongest ally in the Middle East. | | |
| Support Israel's Right to Self Defense:
believe strongly in Israel's right to protect its citizens. | | |
| Support Foreign Assistance to Israel: - supported foreign assistance to Israel.
- defend and support the annual foreign aid package that involves both military and economic assistance to Israel and have advocated increased foreign aid budgets to ensure that these funding priorities are met.
- called for continuing U.S. cooperation with Israel in the development of missile defense systems.
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| Stop the Genocide in Darfur: increasing pressure on the Sudanese and pressure the government to halt the killing and stop impeding the deployment of a robust international force. | | |
| Expand Prosperity in Africa: - expand prosperity by establishing an Add Value to Agriculture Initiative,
- creating a fund that will extend seed capital and technical assistance to small and medium enterprises,
- reforming the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
- launch the Global Energy and Environment Initiative to ensure African countries have access to low carbon energy technology.
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| Start a New Chapter of Engagement with Latin America and the Caribbean: - rebuild diplomatic links throughout the hemisphere through aggressive, principled, and sustained diplomacy in the Americas from Day One.
- bolster U.S. interests in the region by pursuing policies that advance democracy, opportunity, and security and will treat our hemispheric partners and neighbors with dignity and respect.
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| Promote Democracy in Cuba and Throughout the Hemisphere: - support democracy
- In the case of Cuba, they will empower our best ambassadors of freedom by allowing unlimited Cuban-American family travel and remittances to the island.
- Using aggressive and principled bilateral diplomacy he will also send an important message: if a post-Fidel government takes significant steps toward democracy, beginning with freeing all political prisoners, the U.S. is prepared to take steps to normalize relations and ease the embargo that has governed relations between our countries for the last five decades.
- increase support for the building blocks of durable democracies—strong legislatures, independent judiciaries, free press, vibrant civil society, honest police forces, religious freedom, and the rule of law.
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| Work Towards Energy Security: - bring together the countries of the region in a new Energy Partnership for the Americas to forge a path toward sustainable growth and clean energy.
- call on the American people to join this effort through an Energy Corps of engineers and scientists who will go to the region and beyond to help develop clean energy solutions.
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| Advance Opportunity from the Bottom-up:
substantially increase our aid to the Americas | | |
| Trade Policy That Works for All People in All Countries: - believe that trade with foreign nations should strengthen the American economy and create more American jobs.
- stand firm against agreements that undermine our economic security and will use trade agreements to spread good labor and environmental standards around the world.
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| Advance Security Across the Region: - need to target all sources of insecurity through a new hemispheric security initiative.
- foster cooperation within the region to combat gangs, trafficking and violent criminal activity.
- strive to find the best practices that work across the hemisphere, and to tailor approaches to fit each country.
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