CNN Late Edition 2007, with Wolf Blitzer: on Foreign Policy

Barack Obama: Pakistan crisis: secure nukes; continue with elections

A: The first thing we want to do is to contact the Pakistani government to get assurances from them that the nuclear stockpiles are secured. The second thing is to make sure that Musharraf is sending a clear message to the family of Bhutto and her supporters that he recognizes this is a tragedy and express sympathies to try to keep tempers cooled in the capital cities and major urban areas. And the third thing that we have to do is to make sure that elections continue. If they’re not going to continue as planned on January 8th, then shortly thereafter, but there has to be a clear message from the Musharraf government that in fact this won’t be used as an excuse to subvert democracy.

Fred Thompson: Pakistan: support Musharraf, with funding, for short-run

A: I think that we have to have confidence in him for the short run to maintain stability. I think ultimately, the people of Pakistan are going to have to decide about Musharraf’s fate. He had been moving in the right direction. He had taken off the uniform he had set elections for January the 8th, he had backed off of some of the things he was doing with regard to the court system that were all antidemocratic.

Q: Should we continue US military aid, some $10 billion to Pakistan since 9/11?

A: Yes. Certainly in the short run. This is no time to start being parsimonious. This is a matter of national security. This is a matter of stability, and the only Muslim country that has nuclear weapons. So let’s don’t be pennywise and pound foolish.

Chris Dodd: Ideal goal is Israeli security plus a Palestinian state

A: We’re jumping ahead of ourselves here. I hope this Annapolis meeting works. Nothing would please me more than to have a two-state solution here. Israel would get the security it deserves and needs, and the Palestinians get a state, an independent state. That’s the ideal goal here. Why did it take this long, six or seven years? Walking away from the Middle East over the last 6 or 7 years has exactly contributed to the kind of problems we’re seeing today, in my view, with Iran. Had we been engaged more consistently over the years, I think we would have had a lot more success. They’ll re-engage now, utilizing the Annapolis meeting, which brought together Syria, the Arab League, all the other major parties in the region were there, except the Iranians and Hamas, which should have been excluded. So, talking about military action in Iran I think is premature.

Ron Paul: Empires usually end by spending too much to maintain empire

I think the whole sentiment [toward the Iraq war] is shifting. The people are sick and tired of the war. We can’t even afford it. We can’t even fight the war without borrowing the money from the Chinese. So it doesn’t add up. It really doesn’t matter whether I’m right or wrong. The war is going to end because we are going to have such a political and financial havoc here with the devaluation of our dollar because we just can’t keep affording.

This is usually how empires end, by spending too much money maintaining their empires. We are in 130 countries. We have 700 bases around the world. And it’s going to come to an end. I want it to come to an end more gracefully and peacefully, follow the Constitution and follow more sensible foreign policy.

Mike Huckabee: Demand accountability from Pakistan for our $10B

A: Well, only to the degree to which he sticks by the constitution. When President Bush said that he’s a big believer in democracy, I’d have to wonder about suspending the constitution and declaring martial law. There are some concerns that I think we need to have about Pakistan. We need to make it very clear that, for the kind of money we’ve poured into Pakistan since September 11--some $10 billion--we expect a greater accountability for that money actually going to find, locate, and destroy terrorists.

Q: So what would you do differently than President Bush is doing right now?

A: Well, the main thing I would do is to make sure that we demand greater accountability, not only for the funding that we have put in, but we also get a greater level of cooperation.

Mike Huckabee: Earned right to act on actionable intelligence in Pakistan

A: I would make sure that we demand greater accountability, not only for the funding that we have put in, but we also get a greater level of cooperation and commitment that, when we find actionable targets in Pakistan, dealing with Al Qaida, that we have the green light to go after those targets, that we don’t do as we did a couple of years ago, and that is actually have people in the air on their way to take out a target and then to be called back because we had not yet obtained full permission from the Pakistani government.

Q: So you would send US troops directly into Pakistan if there were what you call actionable intelligence?

A: We need to make sure that the Musharraf government recognizes that part of what we have done with that $10 billion is to, sort of, earn the right of passage to take those targets out.

Mike Huckabee: Israel should not give up West Bank or Golan Heights

A: No, I don’t think so. I have been to Israel 9 times. I have been all throughout the Middle East. Anyone who goes to Israel, and just understands the unique geography and the unique tension that surrounds that area, it would be very problematic for Israel to give up the West Bank, from their own standpoint of security. The same thing with the Golan Heights--giving up the Golan Heights makes most of Galilee a sitting target. Now it’s their government. They’ll make that decision, not me. But I certainly could not encourage them to give up the West Bank.

Q: If they’re not going to give up the West Bank or the Golan Heights, what are they going to negotiate about?

A: There are a lot of options that involve other territory that doesn’t have to include the West Bank or the Golan Heights. But let’s be honest, there is not going to be some instant kumbaya moment. The best we can hope for is that there will be some level of loosening of the hostilities.

Mike Huckabee: Not yet ready for two-state solution for Israel & Palestine

A: Well, I would want to see where that side-by-side exists, because if you do something that puts the Israelis in a position of ultimate vulnerability, that may not be a healthy solution. You’ve got to realize that there are people in that region who have stated that their primary purpose is to annihilate Israel, to do away with them. And if you surround them by hostility and give them very little room in which to maneuver, you may not have created anything other than a very, very temporary peace, but for a long-term disaster.

Q: So I guess you’re not ready to endorse a two-state solution yet?

A: Not until you see where those two states are going to be located and whether or not there is going to be some guarantee of security and concessions on the part of the nations that would surround Israel. And the Israelis would have to be comfortable with it.

John Edwards: Aid should go to Pakistan, not to Musharraf

A: Oh, it’s very troublesome. Musharraf is not a wonderful leader. I think there is a smart path for America on this, understanding how volatile the situation is. First of all, I think we should reform the nature of our aid and use aid as our leverage tool. I mean, what we’ve been doing is essentially aiding Musharraf as opposed to aiding the Pakistani people. You know, with funding for F-16s, which does not help in the fight against terrorism, does not help with security for America. And we’ve also been approaching this unilaterally. We ought to have a multi-lateral approach to this problem. We shouldn’t be doing this alone.

Joe Biden: Pakistani elections will be a sham if emergency not lifted

A: Well, it can’t. Musharraf called me about six days ago. I had a long conversation with him. And he indicated to me that the elections would go off within this 60-day timeframe, that he would take off his uniform, and that as soon as possible before--BEFORE--the election date, the state of emergency would be lifted. Absent him lifting the state of emergency, this will be a sham. And if he does not do that, then I think there is not much hope for there to be the kind of accommodation and power sharing that everybody hopes will occur as a consequence of this election.

Chris Dodd: Condemned Musharraf declaring state of emergency in Pakistan

A: Obviously, we’ve got to keep working with Musharraf. I joined others who are condemning his declaring a state of emergency and suspending the constitution. But this is a problem that was created by this administration. This was loading up Musharraf with too much for him to probably carry as a result of our not putting the kind of emphasis on Afghanistan after 9/11 that we should have.

Q: Would you start putting some pressure on President Musharraf, for example, by reducing US military and/or economic assistance?

A: That is something you should consider. Obviously, at this point, you need to make sure that the country is not going to fall apart. And so, working with him to find out how we can move from the position he has put himself in today to a more open process here that allows for possibly a coalition government to emerge here. But we need a stable and strong Pakistan here.

Bill Richardson: Israel is less safe with Bush’s policies

Israel today is our strongest ally in the Middle East, but it is less safe with the policies of the president. I’d bring a Middle East peace envoy to try to bring the Israelis and Palestinians together.

Rudy Giuliani: Iran is dangerous; not 10 years from nuclear weapons

RICHARDSON: The Republicans are stuck in the status quo on immigration, they want to expand torture, they want to keep these flawed policies in the Middle East and Iraq going. This is how I would deal with Iran. I would talk to them, but I would build an international coalition that would promote and push economic sanctions on them. Sanctions would work on Iran. What I would promote would be a tough negotiation with Iran. But the reality is that if we bring Iran and Syria, we could possibly lessen the instability in Iraq, and make some progress on the Middle East situation, on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

Sam Brownback: Talk directly to Iran; but confront them also

A: I think in the sense that we talked to them before we went into Afghanistan, but not with diplomatic arrangements, I think that could be useful, as recognized in the Iraq Study Group report and proposal. I think it will be rejected by the Iranians, and I think more of what we have to do is confront them. Confront them economically, confront them multilaterally with the Europeans, confront some of their weaknesses -- they import 40% of their refined fuel products. There are some vulnerabilities that are there -- and put more pressure on them the way they have been putting a great deal of pressure and difficulty on us in that region of the world.