Opinion: Romney Roots For Foreign Policy Crisis
Mitt Romney, consultant to terrorists.
At the secret fundraiser Mitt Romney held in Florida, he said a lot of odd things that are getting him in trouble.
While the tape is getting a lot of attention, especially for what Romney said about 47 percent of Americans, his advice to Iran has been somewhat overlooked.
Romney shared with the audience that "If I were Iran, and a crazed fanatic, I'd say let's get a little fissile material to Hezbollah, have them carry it to Chicago or some other place, and then if anything goes wrong or if America starts acting up, we'll just say, 'Guess what, unless you stand down, why we're gonna let off a dirty bomb.' ”
Romney, even when dispensing advice to Iran, is ever the partisan politician. You will notice that Romney selected the home city of his presidential rival and the city that houses his campaign as the best target for Iran and Hezbollah.
Perhaps Romney believes a dirty bomb in Chicago is his best path to victory?
First, he clearly does not know what a dirty bomb is. Fissile material is not needed.
More critical is the idea that one of the two people in contention to be our Commander-in-Chief would ever talk this way to an audience of campaign donors, or anyone else.
Who dispenses advice to terrorists?
Turns out, Mitt Romney does.
And, more troubling, does he really believe it is that easy to deliver a dirty bomb to the US? He has that little faith in the intelligence community and law enforcement?
The fact is that Mitt Romney is out of his depth when it comes to American foreign policy and he seems to take no interest in it what-so-ever, especially when it comes to the Middle East.
He believes that America should already feel like Iran has taken us hostage.
He also clearly stated that the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians is pointless because a peace agreement would make Israel less secure.
Specifically, Romney said of the peace process: "I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway…and I say there's just no way."
Romney criticizes the president and says that Obama leads from behind, but it sounds like Romney wants to lead from the sofa.
Worse, though, was Romney's promise to try to take advantage of a foreign policy crisis. He said, "…by the way, if something of that nature [the 1980 hostage crisis in Iran] presents itself, I will work to find a way to take advantage of the opportunity."
Last week we saw that strategy put in action.
But the bottom line for Romney is that foreign policy is not to be taken seriously and neither is rooting for America.
After all, it is better for his election prospects if the terrorists act and the economy is talked down.
About Bill Buck
Bill Buck is a Democratic strategist, President of the Buck Communications Group, a media relations and new media strategies consulting business based in Washington, DC, and Managing Director of the online ad firm Influence DSP. He has over twenty years of international and national communications experience. The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of CBS Local.
