Huckabee on Foreign Policy, Not Very Original

The foreign policy magazine Foreign Affairs has been running essays by presidential candidates detailing their ideas about what American foreign policy should be. They've already run essays by John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and Rudy Giuliani; in their most recent issue they have an essay by Republican candidate Mike Huckabee. Story from Foreign Affairs.

American foreign policy needs to change its tone and attitude, open up, and reach out. The Bush administration's arrogant bunker mentality has been counterproductive at home and abroad. My administration will recognize that the United States' main fight today does not pit us against the world but pits the world against the terrorists.

This statement trots out what appears to be a line from one of the Democratic candidates for president. It has been used so often that it has become a tired argument, it looks more like a cliché than serious policy. Seriously, couldn't you at least try to be a little bit more original?

A more successful U.S. foreign policy needs to better explain Islamic jihadism to the American people. Given how Americans have thrived on diversity -- religious, ethnic, racial -- it takes an enormous leap of imagination to understand what Islamic terrorists are about, that they really do want to kill every last one of us and destroy civilization as we know it. If they are willing to kill their own children by letting them detonate suicide bombs, then they will also be willing to kill our children for their misguided cause. The Bush administration has never adequately explained the theology and ideology behind Islamic terrorism or convinced us of its ruthless fanaticism. The first rule of war is "know your enemy," and most Americans do not know theirs.

Sounds promising, doesn't it? Well, at least until you read this paragraph.

As president, my goal in the Arab and Muslim worlds will be to calibrate a course between maintaining stability and promoting democracy. It is self-defeating to attempt too much too soon: doing so could mean holding elections that the extremists would win. But it is also self-defeating to do nothing. We must first destroy existing terrorist groups and then attack the underlying conditions that breed them: the lack of basic sanitation, health care, education, jobs, a free press, fair courts -- which all translates into a lack of opportunity and hope. The United States' strategic interests as the world's most powerful country coincide with its moral obligations as the richest. If we do not do the right thing to improve life in the Muslim world, the terrorists will step in and do the wrong thing.

So which is it, poverty or theology? You can't have it both ways. Additionally, arguing that poverty is a major cause of Islamic terrorism is simply incorrect. Most suicide bombers are not dirt poor, they often come from the middle or upper class and have college educations.

This is yet another example of how this essay borders on schizophrenia. There are too many examples of "on one hand, but on the other hand." It looks like he's trying to please everybody. The fact that he is trying to please everybody does not reflect well on his candidacy. It looks more like pandering than a serious foreign policy outline.

Sun-tzu's ancient wisdom is relevant today: "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." Yet we have not had diplomatic relations with Iran in almost 30 years; the U.S. government usually communicates with the Iranian government through the Swiss embassy in Tehran. When one stops talking to a parent or a friend, differences cannot be resolved and relationships cannot move forward. The same is true for countries. The reestablishment of diplomatic ties will not occur automatically or without the Iranians' making concessions that serve to create a less hostile relationship.

First of all, the analogy is mistaken. Iran is not a "parent or a friend" it is a clear enemy to the United States. In this paragraph, again, it looks like he's parroting Democratic ideas on foreign policy. I do not believe that simply increasing diplomatic ties with Iran will magically help to improve our relationship. Remember, Iran invented the phrase "Death to America." Diplomacy is not going to change that.

President Huckabee. Doesn't really sound that good to me.

(Hat tip: Hot Air)