Howard Dean on Foreign Policy Former VT Governor; Former Democratic Candidate for President

Day 1: Visit international allies to undo damage

A: To make an international visit to our allies to shore up our badly damaged relationships.

Bush has squandered foreign goodwill

Repair relations with world by ending Bush arrogance

I have a long-standing relationship with Canada. Repairing our relationship with Canada requires the same solution that repairing our relationships with the rest of the world requires, and that is the removal of a president whose arrogance and contemptuousness for others overrides the respect that is necessary between parties to conduct international relations.

Let the UN handle the Iraq situation

A: I don’t think we have any choice. I supported the first Gulf War. I supported the Afghanistan war. Our people had been killed. We have a right to defend ourselves. But now we can’t just cut and run. We need to bring troops from Arabic-speaking nations in so this is an international reconstruction and not an American occupation. And I think, yes, the UN can do that.

I have as much foreign policy experience as Bush had

DEAN: I have as much foreign-policy experience as Bush did when he got into office. And Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. The important part is to have very good people talking to me about foreign policy, and to use judgment and patience.

Marshall Plan did as much for security as any martial plans

Intertwine into alliances, to create international stability

Integrate China as our international community partner

I would lead this country back to a strong commitment to international alliances and institutions that are the backbone of a stable international order. In an increasingly complex and dangerous world, the more that our destinies are intertwined, the greater the shared sense of purpose, the more likely it is that we will work together successfully to address the difficult challenges ahead.

And we must do this not only with our traditional friends and allies in Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa, but with such critical powers as Russia and China, both of whom must be fully integrated into the international community as our partners.

Embrace nation-building over isolationism

The greatest advance in American foreign policy in the last century was the Marshall Plan. Europe’s 1,000-year history of nearly continuous war is instead today dominated by an economic union, which would not have been possible without the investment of billions of American taxpayers dollars. We have been paid back many times over in trade dollars, and more importantly, in American lives which have not been lost to yet another European war.

Our long range foreign policy ought to embrace nation building, not run from it. The most successful countries are those with democracies bolstered by a strong middle class that embraces the full political and economic participation of women. We need a solid game plan to [build] those countries that are not democratic, that treat women as second class citizens and that lack a strong middle class.