Mitt Romney talks Afghanistan, Iran, 2012 race

The following is a rush transcript of the March 18, 2012 edition of "Fox News Sunday With Chris Wallace." This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

BRET BAIER, ANCHOR: I'm Bret Baier, in for Chris Wallace.

Mitt Romney looks to lock up the nomination. But many key tests remain.

We'll talk with the GOP frontrunner about the primaries ahead and get insight to do his policy solutions for America.

Mitt Romney, a "Fox News Sunday" exclusive.

Then, actor George Clooney brings awareness of a war-torn region to Washington. He opens up about what he saw along the border of Sudan and South Sudan, about how people there need help. Chris Wallace sits down with George Clooney and the Enough Project's John Prendergast.

Also, the president and vice president both hit the campaign trail hard. We'll ask our Sunday panelist if the timing is right for the White House to ramp up reelection efforts. And we'll take a look how the candidates are scrambling for delegates on the trail.

All right now on "Fox News Sunday."

(MUSIC)

BAIER: And hello, again, from Fox News in Washington.

It's another a busy campaign weekend, Missouri continues the process of selecting delegates, Puerto Rico votes today. Then, on Tuesday, all eyes will be on Illinois.

Joining us is now from Moline to talk about where the race stands now is Mitt Romney.

Governor, welcome back to "Fox News Sunday."

MITT ROMNEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thanks, Bret. Good to be with you.

BAIER: Let's start with Afghanistan. Tensions in the U.S. and Afghanistan appear to be very high at this point. Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has accused the U.S. of stonewalling the investigation into the killing of 16 Afghan civilians. In fact, they even suggested there might be more than one shooter.

He angrily said Friday, quote, "This has been going on for too long. This is all by means the end of the rope here." Thursday, he demanded all NATO troops get out of the villages and stay on the major bases there.

President Obama, as you know, has publicly said to stay the course until our withdrawal at the end of 2014.

Would President Romney do anything different? And if so, how?

ROMNEY: Well, first of all, I would exercise leadership. And by that I mean I would speak with President Karzai. I would speak with President Karzai regularly, day-to-day. We have troops in harm's way. We have almost 1,800 men and women who have been killed in Afghanistan. We have real interest in making sure that this ends well and that our mission is successful there of having a Afghanistan that is able to maintain its sovereignty against the Taliban, against ultimately al Qaeda as well.

Look, what's happening right now is an example of failed leadership. The president put out a specific time table for withdrawal for our troops, a time table for the end of combat operations. That is leading Mr. Karzai to take action that is self preservation in nature.

The president needs to be more engaged and interacting with -- not only our commanders there but also with leadership in Afghanistan.

BAIER: But would you exercise the withdrawal?

ROMNEY: Well, the timing of withdrawal is going to be dependent about what you hear from the conditions on the ground. That you understand by speaking with commanders, as well as, of course, the people of Afghanistan and their ability to maintain their sovereignty and to have the capacity -- to have a military that can stand up to the challenges they face.

The timetable, the guidelines that continue to be in effect, unless, of course, there are changes and conditions to suggest a faster withdrawal.

But recognize that, ultimately, the independence and security of Afghanistan is going to have to be secured and maintained by the Afghans themselves. We're not going to stay there forever.

BAIER: Your Republican opponents have a different tone they have been sounding. Speaker Newt Gingrich said we're risking lives on a mission that may frankly not be doable. Rick Santorum said we either have to make a full commitment which he said this president has not done or we have to decide to get out sooner. And Ron Paul, of course, has maintained his long held position of withdrawing troops from Afghanistan immediately.

So, are you taking a stand here while much of your party is souring on Afghanistan?

ROMNEY: Well, before I take a stand at a particular course of action, I want to get the input from the people who are there. General Allen is going to be coming to Washington and testifying this week about what the conditions are. I think it's very plain to see that the conditions are not going very well.

And the -- and I lay part of the blame on that on the lack of leadership on the part of our president, both in terms of his interaction with Karzai and with leaders there, as well as his relative detachment from our military commanders there and the fact that he published a specific date for a withdrawal, published a date for withdrawal of our combat operations there, did not oversee elections in Afghanistan that would have convinced the people there that they had elected someone that they could have confidence in, did not put enough troops into the surge, as what's requested by the military. He certainly takes part of the blame for the failure there, and we're going to get our troops out soon as we possibly can.

But this does have the indications of a similarly failed withdrawal or fail would completion effort on the part of this president, just like we saw in Iraq. He likewise failed in the way we left Iraq. And this is a president simply does not have experience in tough situations -- not negotiating experience, not leadership experience -- and it's showing once again the result that one might have expected from lack of leadership.

BAIER: Let's talk about Iran. What you are seeing and hearing, where do you put the chances that Israel will strike Iran in coming months?

ROMNEY: Well, I can't begin to speak for what Israel will do. I think they recognize that Iran's nuclear weaponry presents an existential threat to them. Ahmadinejad has said that he would consider Israel a one bomb nation. So, Israel's timetable may be different than our timetable.

The clear, I think, lesson from this are that, one, the president should have put in place crippling sanctions from day one instead of waiting three and a half years. Two, he should have spoken out when the dissidents took to the streets in Tehran. Instead, he was silent. And three, he should be less worried about Israel taking military action to stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon and more worried about Iran actually having nuclear weapon and have fissile material.

And he should make it very clear that the United States of America will not allow Iran to have nuclear weapons, and that we will take action, including military action if necessary, to prevent that from occurring.

BAIER: The president said two weeks ago that you and Speaker Gingrich and Senator Santorum are speaking casually about war with Iran, saying, quote, "If some of these folks think that it's time to launch a war, they should say so. They should explain to the American people exactly why they would do that and what the consequences would be. Everything else is just talk."

Your reaction?

ROMNEY: Well, it's quite clear that the president wants to avoid in any way a discussion about a military option. But, of course, we have to recognize that if all else fails -- and he's failed on so many dimensions, it's possible that all else will fail. But I hope not.

I hope that crippling sanctions will now that they're finally beginning to be employed there will have an impact. I hope that if we aggressively support dissident voices in Iran, that will have an impact. And I hope that showing a military commitment on our part, and a recognition that we have a military option, that that will change the minds of the Iranians towards their nuclear program. But there is nothing casual about Iran having a nuclear weapon. There's nothing casual about Iran having fissile material they can give to Hamas or Hezbollah. And Hezbollah is now in many parts of South America. Look, they are in our hemisphere. Fissile material in our hemisphere with Hezbollah able to potentially bring it into this country? There's nothing casual about that.

The president needs to recognize this is a very serious threat to America and to the world. And that, of course, we have to have military options. Israel has obviously developed those options. I hope our president is listening to our military and developing those options as well.

GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR AND ACTIVIST: What's going on right there is exactly what we saw in the beginning of Darfur. The same people, Omar al-Bashir charged with war crimes, Harun, the defense minister, Husain.

CHRIS WALLACE, ANCHOR: All government of Sudan.

CLOONEY: All three men charged with war crimes at The Hague are the same three who are now bombing indiscriminate innocent civilians with Antonov planes with 300-millimeter Chinese rockets. And so described in the Geneva Convention, that is a war crime. So, that's what they're doing right now.

WALLACE: So, John, why is the Sudanese government targeting these people in the Nuba Mountains?

JOHN PRENDERGAST, CO-FOUNDER, THE ENOUGH PROJECT: There is a civil war in Sudan. As many people remember, South Sudan succeeded after a referendum which 99 percent of the Southerners to leave Sudan. The Sudan that's left behind without the South is at war in a number of places.

This is sort of the periphery along the western and southern border of Sudan is on fire. And that's, you know, basically they are fighting a civil war and they are using tactics that are designed to clear people out. It's ethnic cleansing in these areas where the warzone, the active warzones are. So instead of fighting against the rebels, they go after the civilian supporters of the rebellions. The oldest trick in the book: drain the water to catch the fish. You drain the people out of an area, and it's harder for the rebel to stay afloat in there. And so, that's why we see terrible war crimes occur repeatedly throughout Sudan during the last 20 years.

WALLACE: What did you witness on the ground? What did you see happening to the people in the Nuba Mountains?

CLOONEY: Once we got into the conflict zone, you can see first of all the remnants of a fairly active war. There were dead bodies laying around. But as we got further north, where we first showed up, there's villagers who come out with signs that say, you know, no more Antonovs and all that kind of stuff.

You know, they are opening up a cargo door and rolling these bombs out. I mean, honestly, if they were trying to hit you, you probably would be safe. But what it really comes down to is that it's a program of fear. You know, the chances of -- they kill people. One village we were in, there were 34 people killed in the last two months. And that's a small village.

So, they are killing people. But more than that, they are keeping them hiding in the rocks, in the caves so that they can't farm, and they missed their planting season this year. And this is the oldest society in the world if you read the Bible. These people have been there forever. And now, they're not going to be able to feed themselves, coming up in the next couple of months.

WALLACE: While you were there, there was a rocket attack.

CLOONEY: Sure, yes.

WALLACE: And you walked up a little too close to an unexploded bomb. These aren't Hollywood special affects.

CLOONEY: No, no.

WALLACE: You were risking your life.

CLOONEY: Well, the bomb one was funny because the guy said, you want to see -- because the day before, 15 bombs hit there and we saw a kid with his hand blown off. There's really terrible things there, and we're standing on top of this bush, he pulls back the bush, and there was a bomb. Oh, there's a bomb. And so he kept messing with the bush and I thought, maybe don't hit it with the stick too many times, you know?

So, we were glad to get out of there.

WALLACE: John, what role does oil play in all of this? And is it that you would like the U.S. to put pressure on China to do?

PRENDERGAST: Well, China is dependent on Sudan for 6 percent of its daily imports. So, suddenly, six weeks ago, South Sudan getting tired of how the money from or the oil that they were exporting through the pipelines in north Sudan was being confiscated to shut off the taps. And so, there is a tremendous moment of opportunity here where China suddenly, its interest are deeply affect can't just sit back and hope things get resolved between Sudan and South Sudan, or within Sudan. They've got to get more actively involved to try to help with the United States, help bring about --

WALLACE: So, what do you want the U.S. to go to China and say stop the killing in Sudan and --

CLOONEY: We've all done that and try to throw guilt their way. That doesn't really work. It never really has. You can't appeal to someone's better angels in this situation. What you can appeal to this time, we actually have a situation where China and the United States both have economic interest in this being resolved. When China is buying 6 more percent of oil somewhere else, that's driving up our prices as well.

The president said that at the press conference the other day, we have an opportunity to sit, with high level, the president is meeting with President Hu. So, that's the perfect moment to say, listen, this a moment for China and the United States to work together to solve the problem and will get the oil turned back on so that you guys will start to get your oil again.

WALLACE: Of course, the big issue, the immediate issue is to stop the bombing, to stop the slaughter of civilians. Would you like to see the U.S. get involved in imposing, as part of an international coalition a no fly zone, or bombing the Sudan air force?

CLOONEY: Well, here's the thing -- the truth of the matter is this, and you will understand: if you're standing there and see a kid with both hands missing from some jerk, you know, 10,000 feet in the air just dropping bombs out indiscriminately on innocent people, you'd really like to see a NATO plane come and just take those guys out of the air. That's your gut reaction.

In the real world, in what we're talking about, we're not going to see NATO in there, we're not going to, unilaterally -- certainly, we're not going to be acting. So, we have to look at things we have to look at things we can do realistically to try and put pressure on the government to stop doing it.

WALLACE: You are seeing President Obama to this trip. What do you want him to do?

CLOONEY: First is, obviously, to have high level meetings with the Chinese to talk about working together on getting this actually done. That's the most effective tool. China has all the levers at this point, number one.

Number two, to use all of those techniques we've learned going after terrorist to find their money and to really go after it.

WALLACE: I'm embarrassed to say this, but we would not be doing this segment, frankly, on Sudan if you weren't part of it. CLOONEY: Right.

WALLACE: Is that a point, to use your celebrity to shine a lot on atrocities, on war criminals, that frankly the world is all too willing to ignore?

CLOONEY: I'm a son of a newsman as you are. I grew up around news. I ran a teleprompter when it was pushing paper underneath the camera and when they said, cut that segment, you actually took a piece of paper and cut the segment and taped it, you know?

I'm a big believer in the importance of information and news. And I saw my father in the '70s doing really good stories and then getting bumped because there was a Liz Taylor story that was going to be out. And the story that he did that had real some social value was going to get bump. It just happens. That's sort of the nature of the world we live in.

I called my father in 2006, when I was reading those Nick Kristof articles about the Sudan. And I said, "Remember how you used to get all your stories bumped by Liz Taylor or something happened in Hollywood?" And he said, "Yes." I said, "Well, let's go to Darfur. And you be the newsman and I'll be Liz Taylor and let's get it on the air." And he said, "OK."

So, yes, I believe that. We are going and standing where people are shooting rockets at us and we're standing where there's a bomb hit the ground and didn't blow up, and that helps get attention to the story that we are trying to tell, then that's all we can do. I don't make policy. I can just make it louder.

WALLACE: While you were on this trip to Sudan, the "Kony 2012" video --

CLOONEY: I found out about it --

WALLACE: -- went viral.

CLOONEY: Yes.

WALLACE: Millions of people watching about Joseph Kony who with his guerrillas, the Lord's Resistance Army have either killed or displaced millions of people in central Africa. What do you make of it hitting a nerve? And despite the fact that people are going to watch it, why does it matter?

CLOONEY: Well, you know, I'll tell you -- an interesting thing about this is, what we do and what's important is, first of all, you need some political will to get things done. You know, President Obama sent 100 guys in to instruct people looking for Kony, right? And he some took hits from it for a period of time. There are less hits coming his way because of that video now. So that helps. It's encouragement along the way.

WALLACE: John, one thing that you have done, along with George and other people who started this Satellite Sentinel project; what is it and what do you want to accomplish?

PRENDERGAST: Well, the main objective -- we basically collect imagery from a satellite company called Digital Globe which has donated literally millions of dollars.

CLOONEY: Yeah, they've been pretty great.

PRENDERGAST: And so -- millions of dollars' worth of imagery. And we analyze that imagery, and the imagery is basically of military movements, moving troops or mass attack helicopters into position so we can basically say they're going to attack this place, and shine a light, blow a whistle and say it's going to happen; we know it's going to happen. What are we going to do about it?

WALLACE: George, how do you deal with the disconnect in your life, that last time I saw you, you're walking the red carpet at the Oscars, and a couple of days later, you are in the Nuba mountains with a kid who's had both of his hands blown off.

How do you understand that, deal with that process?

CLOONEY: Well, you know, I grew up in a family that believed that, you know, in a small town in Kentucky, that believed that your job was to be involved with your fellow man. You have a responsibility to participate in the human condition, one way or another.

I can -- you can, sort of, shut those things off. I've gone -- it's a tricky thing. There's a moment where you go -- you'll be -- when those rockets were going off and there's that moment you think, wow, that's -- that's close, those rockets. You're thinking, you know, I could actually -- I don't really have to be here right now.

(LAUGHTER)

There's better places to be.

But, honestly, there's not really any better place to be. It's -- it actually is -- it's cleansing your palate from doing all the other things that sometimes feel self-serving. So being able to go there and do something like that makes you feel better. So that's -- that's good.

WALLACE: At the end of the movie, and I've got to say it's very gripping, you are just standing over a dead body out in the dust, in the open area, there's no economic agenda; there's no political agenda; it's just save lives.

CLOONEY: That's it. Honestly, right now, there are helpless people who are -- there is a ticking time bomb on about 100,000 people hiding in the hills who have never had this problem before, which is they -- these aren't people who are sitting there with their hands out going, "Help us." They've always taken care of themselves, bad weather, whatever; they farm. They take care of themselves. And right now, they are hiding for their lives and they're terrorized.

And -- and we need to do whatever we can to help them. And so, yes, I think that, right now, it's just saving lives.

WALLACE: Thank you.

CLOONEY: Thank you. It's good to see you.

WALLACE: Good to see you.

BAIER: Thanks, Chris.

One update. On Friday Clooney and his father Nick and several others were arrested outside of the Sudanese embassy after protesting there.

Coming up, the Sunday panel previews the general election campaign, which, for the president and vice president, re-launched a couple of days ago. Back in a moment.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Right now, we're starting to see a lot of politicians talking a lot...... but not doing much.VICE PRESIDENT JOSEPH BIDEN: The economic theories of Gingrich, Santorum and Romney -- they are bankrupt.

BAIER: That was the president and vice president in full campaign mode earlier this week. And it's time now for our Sunday group, Brit Hume, Fox news senior political analyst; A.B. Stoddard of The Hill newspaper; Bill Kristol of The Weekly Standard; and Charles Lane from The Washington Post.

Brit, the RealClearPolitics average of polls of the president's approval rating is at 46.9 approve; 47.1 disapprove. This is another launch of his re-election effort this past week.

BRIT HUME, FOX NEWS: I'm not sure anybody will notice.

He's been campaigning with such vigor for so long and raising money in such prodigious amounts that it's all a continuum, I think. I think that poll number is -- is worrisome for the president. The president's approval rating of less than 50 percent this close to an election gives him some difficulty. I think this president is and has been and will continue to be in difficulty.

But I think you're going to see an all-out, stop-at-nothing campaign. And I think we've seen the leading -- leading edges of it now.

BAIER: And raising a money, a frenzy, A.B.?

A.B. STODDARD, THE HILL: I don't think they are embarrassed by this. You can call it cynical; you can call it political, anything you want. There's seven and a half months left. He's done himself a lot of damage to the coalition that elected him in 2008. He needs to rebuild it.

He's doing badly in battleground states where unemployment is often higher than the national average. Gas prices is a factor. He's trying to take that on the offense and get out there and explain over and over again that he has no silver bullet for bringing down prices.

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