Romney accuses Obama of failing to lead on Middle East

guardian.co.uk

Mitt Romney claimed the world was a more dangerous place than when Barack Obama took office, as he accused the president of mishandling the Middle East and called for the US to pursue its traditional role as the world's policeman.

Displaying new-found confidence since his debate victory last week, Romney used a major foreign policy speech in Virginia to attack Obama for a lack of leadership on a range of international issues, including Iran, Israel-Palestine, Libya and Syria. "Hope is not a strategy," Romney declared.

"I believe that if America does not lead, others will; others who do not share our interests and our values, and the world will grow darker, for our friends and for us," Romney told the audience of cadets at the Virginia Military Institute.

Obama's failure to project strength abroad, Romney said, had left the US at the mercy of events in the Middle East and vulnerable to terrorist attacks, such as the one in Benghazi which killed the American ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens.

It was Romney's seventh speech on foreign policy in his bid for the White House and was intended to reset the button after previous efforts were heavily criticised.

Obama's campaign team immediately accused him Romney of being in disarray. His proposals, they said, were a mixture of neo-conservative ideas from the Bush era and policies that Obama was already pursuing.

In his toughest language yet against Obama's foreign policy record, Romney said: "When we look at the Middle East today — Iran closer than ever to nuclear weapons capability, with the conflict in Syria threatening to destabilise the region, with violent extremists on the march and with an American ambassador and three others dead likely at the hands of al-Qaida — it is clear that the risk of conflict in the region is higher now than when the president took office."

Apart from a shift towards backing the supply of heavier weaponry to Syrian rebels – by Saudi Arabia and Qatar – Romney had little new to say and leaves unanswered many key foreign policy questions.

He reiterated his intent to confront Russia – even though many American foreign policy analysts see al-Qaida rather than Russia as the main threat to the US – and Iran.

Although the language on Iran is tough, Romney proposed a mixture of threats and sanctions that were not dissimilar to the Obama administration's current approach.

In his speech, Romney made the case for a more interventionist US foreign policy. "Our friends and allies across the globe do not want less American leadership … This is what makes America exceptional. It is not just the character of our country; it is the record of our accomplishments. America has a proud history of strong, confident, principled global leadership – a history that has been written by patriots of both parties."

He accused Obama of "missing an historic opportunity to win new friends who share our values in the Middle East, friends who are fighting for their own futures against the very same violent extremists, and evil tyrants, and angry mobs who seek to harm us."

He quoted a Syrian woman as saying: "We will not forget that you forgot about us."

The speech was heavily trailed in advance, including an excerpt in which Romney promised more help for the rebels, who are out-gunned by the the forces of President Bashar al-Assad, which are using tanks, jets and helicopters.

"Iran is sending arms to Assad because they know his downfall would be a strategic defeat for them. We should be working no less vigorously with our international partners to support the many Syrians who would deliver that defeat to Iran – rather than sitting on the sidelines," he said.

Romney's comments received a positive response from Syrian rebel leaders. Mustafa Sheikh, joint head of the Free Syrian Army military council, said: "We welcome, and we need, any American support, whether that be weapons, money, or anything we can use. The Americans need not be afraid that their support will go to the wrong people, or be wasted. It will be appreciated and it will be valuable. We appreciate that this is now being discussed."

He also criticised Obama over his handling of the killing of the US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, noting the contrast between the administration initially blaming riots over an anti-Muslim movie made in the US and a recent statement pointing to al-Qaida elements.

One of the most awkward parts of the speech was Romney's reaffirmation of the traditional US role as a supposed arbiter in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This contrasted with his speech in May, caught on a secret video, in which he said the Palestinians were not interested in peace, the chances of a peace agreement was remote and the whole issue should be kicked down the field.

On Afghanistan, over which Romney has faced a lot of criticism for failing to mention it during his Republican convention speech, he said he would not be tied to the deadline set by Obama for withdrawal by the end of 2014 and hinted he might delay it.

"The route to more war – and to potential attacks here at home – is a politically timed retreat that abandons the Afghan people to the same extremists who ravaged their country and used it to launch the attacks of 9/11," he said.

The former secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, who has been called in to help the Obama team, told reporters that there was a lot of rhetoric but not a lot of specifics. She said Romney did not seem to understand America's role in the 21st century and his identification of Russia as the number one enemy reflected a nostalgia for cold war thinking.

"I would like to ask Govenor Romney and his advisers how he would do things differently," she said.

The Obama campaign issued an ad saying Romney had already failed the commander-in-chief test, citing his accident-prone tour of the UK, Israel and Poland in the summer and various comments since then.

The ad says: "If this is how he handles the world now, just think of what Romney might do as president.

It also said he was telling outright lies, as when he said Obama had signed no trade deals. Obama's team said he had signed three.