The Foreign Policy Agenda of the Democratic Front-Runners: Comparisons on Some Key Issues

The Foreign Policy Agenda of the Democratic Front-Runners: Comparisons on Some Key Issues
by Stephen Zunes

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Foreign Policy Advisors

Much understanding of what kind of foreign policy a potential president might have is by examining who is providing them which their information and advice on international affairs.

Senator Clinton’s foreign policy advisors tend to be veterans of President Bill Clinton’s administration, most notably former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger. Virtually all were strong supporters of the invasion of Iraq and some - such as Jack Keane, Kenneth Pollack and Michael O’Hanlon - also supported President Bush’s “surge.” Her team also includes some centrist opponents of the war, however, including retired General Wesley Clark and former Ambassador Joseph Wilson.

Her most influential advisor - and her likely choice for Secretary of State - is Richard Holbrooke, who prior to the invasion of Iraq insisted that that country posed “a clear and present danger at all times,” insisted that Bush had “ample justification” to invade Iraq, and has written that those who protested against the war and foreign governments which opposed the invasion “undoubtedly encouraged” Saddam Hussein. Holbrooke has been severely criticized for his role as Carter’s assistant secretary of state for East Asia in propping up Marcos in the Philippines and supporting Suharto’s repression in East Timor, as well as his culpability in the Kwangju massacre in South Korea.

There is every reason to suspect that Hillary Clinton as president would pursue a foreign policy very similar to that of her husband.

Senator John Edwards has a significantly smaller foreign policy team than his two major rivals, reflecting his stronger emphasis on domestic issues. Though arguably the most liberal of the three on economic policies and related matters, this is not reflected in whom Edwards has chosen to be his top foreign policy advisors: Mike Signer, a longtime national security adviser to Virginia senator Mark Warner, has advocated a policy of “exemplarism,” which he describes as “a militarily strong and morally ambitious version of American exceptionalism.” His other leading foreign policy advisor is Derek Chollet, a hawkish analyst who serves as a fellow at the Center for New American Security, a center-right think tank with close ties to the Pentagon.

Senator Barack Obama’s foreign policy advisers include mainstream strategic analysts who have worked with previous Democratic administrations, such as former National Security Advisors Zbigniew Brzezinski and Anthony Lake, former Assistant Secretary of State Susan Rice and former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig. They have also included some of the more enlightened and creative members of the Democratic Party establishment, such as Joseph Cirincione and Lawrence Korb of the Center for American Progress and former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke. His team also includes the noted human rights scholar and international law advocate Samantha Power - author of the recent New Yorker article on U.S. manipulation of the United Nations in post-invasion Iraq - and other liberal academics. Some of his advisors, however, have particularly poor records on human rights and international law, such as retired General Merrill McPeak, a backer of Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor, and Dennis Ross, a supporter of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.

In contrast with Clinton’s foreign policy advisers, virtually all of Obama’s advisers opposed the Iraq war from the beginning. The Nation magazine noted that members of Obama’s foreign policy team, who also tend to be younger than those of the former first lady, are “more likely to stress ’soft power’ issues like human rights, global development and the dangers of failed states.” As a result, “Obama may be more open to challenging old Washington assumptions and crafting new approaches.”


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http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/25/6613/

I think JE has a fairly good handle on foreign policy too.

:shrug:

of this post.

Issues - I had almost forgotten what they were in all the back and forth of which of our candidates is really the Devil (or worse a Republican) and a criminal liar who as never told the truth in his/her whole life.

Thanks.

Milosevic, and told him (Circa 1991 and 1992) that he should do whatever he needed to do to keep Serbia secure.

No wonder the average Serbian in the street was surprised by the NATO attack brought about by Bill Clinton. They thought we had their back.