In the third and final presidential debate, Romney and Obamawent head to head on issues of international diplomacy and strategy.
On Iran and Israel:
Bob Schieffer: I’d like to move to the next segment: redlines, Israel and Iran. Would either of you be willing to declare that anattack on Israel is an attack on the United States, which of course is the samepromise that we give to our close allies like Japan?
Obama: I will stand with Israel if they are attacked.Working with Israel, we have created the strongest military and intelligenceoperation between two countries in history. To the issue of Iran, as long asI’m president of the United States, Iran will not get a nuclear weapon we thenorganized the strongest coalition and the strongest sanctions against Iran inhistory.
Romney: First of all I want to underscore the same pointthat the president made, which is, if I’m president of the United States, whenI’m President of the United States, we will stand with Israel. And if Israel isattacked, we have their back. With regards to Iran, there is no question thatnuclear Iran and nuclear capable Iran is unacceptable to Americans.
On Syria:
Schieffer: Should we reassess our policy [in Syria] and seeif we can find a better way to influence events there, or is that evenpossible?
Obama: What we’ve done is organize the internationalcommunity, saying Assad has to go. We’ve mobilized sanctions against thatgovernment. We have made sure that they are isolated.
Romney: The right course for us is working through ourpartners and with our own resources to identify responsible parties withinSyria, organize them, bring them together in a in a form of if not government,a form of council that can take the lead in Syria.
On Egypt and Hosni Mubarak:
Schieffer: During the Egyptian turmoil, there came a pointwhen you said it was time for President Mubarak to go. Some in youradministration thought perhaps we should have waited a while on that. Do youhave any regrets about that?
Obama: No, I don’t because I think that America has to standwith democracy. The notion that we would have tanks run over those young peoplewho were in Tahrir Square, that is not the kind of American leadership thatJohn F. Kennedy talked about 50 years ago.
Romney: No, I believe, as the president indicated and saidat the time, that I supported his action there.
On Afghanistan:
Schieffer: The United States is scheduled to turn overresponsibility for security in Afghanistan to the Afghans . What do you do ifthe deadline arrives and it is obvious the Afghans are unable to handle theirsecurity? Do we still leave?
Romney: Well, we’re going to be finished by 2014. And whenI’m president, we’ll make sure we bring our troops out by the end of 2014.
Obama: We are now in a position where we have met many ofthe objectives that got us there in the first place. We went because there were people who wereresponsible for 3,000 American deaths.
