Reality Check: Does Libya Attacks Change U.S. Foreign Policy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shaZxAKe65g&feature=youtu.be

Romney Aides DetailForeign Policy Differences.
If Mitt Romney were in the Oval Office duringthis week of turmoil in the Middle East, hisforeign policy advisers said on Thursday, he would have already told Iran that he would not allow it to get close to building a bomb, setting a “red line” in a far differentplace from President Obama ’s.
He would tell the Egyptians that if theywanted $1 billion in debt forgiveness — as promised by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton this month —they would have to put far more effort into protecting American interests in the country, starting with the United States Embassy.
And he would provide far more aid to elements of the Syrian opposition, including, according to one adviser, “facilitating” the provision of lethal arms from other Arabstates. But, like President Obama, he would stop short of arming them directly.
And the United Stateswould have been far more involved in the formation of a new Libya, the advisers insisted, though theyconceded it was not clear that could have stopped the attack that killed the American ambassador there and three other American officers.
Those contrasts weredescribed on Thursday by two of Mr. Romney’s most senior foreign policy advisers, Eliot Cohen and Richard Williamson, in response to a requestfor a description of how Mr. Romney would have handled an enormously challenging week in the Middle East. The specificity was far greater than what Mr. Romney himself has been offering up on the campaign trail, where he speaks in broad strokes about his foreign policy plans.
Over the past few days, he has stuck largely to accusationsthat Mr. Obama has “apologized” for America and projected weakness, suggesting that was the root cause of this week’s protests in Cairo and the lethal violence in Libya.
Even on Thursday, as the turmoil in Egypt and Libya seemed to bleed into other areas of the region, Mr. Romney largely chose to bypass discussion of the challenges in dealing with the two countries, instead offering a more general critique of the president. “As wewatch the world today, sometimes it seems that we’re at the mercy of events, instead of shaping events, and a strong America is essential to shape events,” Mr. Romney said, speaking to a modest-size crowd inFairfax, Va., just outside Washington.
And in an interview with ABC News, Mr. Romney declined to respond to Mr. Obama’s charge that he has a tendency to shoot first and aim later. “Well, this is politics,” he said. “I’m not going to worry about the campaign.”
The sharpest foreign policy difference, described by Mr. Cohen, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a former senior official in the State Department under President George W. Bush, came in response to questions about howMr. Romney would handle Iran.
President Obama has said he would prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, but has so far refused calls from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to set a “redline” sooner, one that would put Iran on notice that it would be subject to military attack if it continued to developthe capability to build such a weapon. Mr. Obama and Mr. Netanyahu continuedthat debate in an hourlong phone call on Tuesday night, hours after the Israelileader suggested the United States had no “moral authority” to restrain Israel from attacking Iran if it was unwilling to set clear limits for the Iranians.
Mr. Cohen said that Mr. Romney “would not be content with an Iran one screwdriver’s turn away from a nuclear weapon.” But he stopped short of saying exactly where,in the development of nuclear capability, Mr. Romney would draw the line. It could be in a different place than Mr. Netanyahu drawsit, he said.
That vagueness is crucial because by some definitions, Iran already has the capability to produce a nuclear weapon, though it might take several months or years to realize.
“Once they get a weapon, or on the verge of getting it, it’s too late,” Mr. Cohen said.
Mr. Romney has said he would never allowIran to enrich uranium, suggesting he would enforce a series of United Nations Security Council resolutions demanding that Iran “suspend” its production of all nuclear fuel. But Iran was in violation of that demand throughmost of Mr. Bush’s second term, and suffered fewer economic consequences than it has under Mr. Obama,who has imposed thefirst sanctions against Iran’s oil revenues.
Both Mr. Cohen and Mr. Williamson said the president had been far too cautiousin supporting opposition forces in Syria, describing him as too risk-averse in the Middle East. “It’s playing out in Syria,” said Mr. Williamson, aformer ambassador who has served a series of Republican presidents. “We are not better off in letting things drift. We have 20,000 dead, and the more itgoes on the fewer choices we have.”
Mr. Cohen suggested that the only way to separate out “the good guys and the bad guys among the opposition” was to engage them. “If we don’t help, these guys they will turn towhoever can help.”
But both men stopped short of saying that the United States should provide lethal arms. A senior Obama administration official said that “sounds a lot like they are endorsing our position.”
On Egypt, Mr. Cohen suggested that the administration had failed to make clear that American aid was contingent on the protection of American interests. In fact, Mr. Obama’s aides, in trips to Cairo, have been careful not to threaten pulling that aid, but they have warned the Egyptian authorities that Congressional approval could be enormously difficult unless the country’s leaders reaffirmed the peace treaty withIsrael.
Mr. Williamson continued the Romney campaign’s attack on a statement issued by the American Embassy in Cairo hours before protestsbegan there, saying “you don’t issue a conciliatory statement that says we don’t support freedom of speech.” The statement did condemn a virulent anti-Muslim video that set off the violence, but it also included references to both the importance of free speech and religious tolerance.
David E. Sanger reported from Washington, and Ashley Parker from Fairfax, Va.

Well it doesn't seem appeasement any unclenching our fist and reaching out with an open hand is working very well for us.

Barry still sending them the checks?