With foreign policy having a rare day in the GOP presidential race, following the killing of deposed Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, the Republican candidates seeking the White House have been slow to give President Obama much credit. But the Perry campaign may be taking it step further — by not giving the Libyan people much time to work out what exactly their new government might look like.
Perry Campaign Communications Director Ray Sullivan took to MSNBC on Friday to break down the end game here: Libyans ridding themselves of a man who brutalized their country for forty-two years is good and everything, he said, but the real question is, are they going adopt Western ideals? Like, immediately?
Further American effort should be spent, “To make sure that that country is peaceful and brings together a coalition government that can succeed and hopefully be pro western,” Sullivan said. “…the proof on this policy is going to be in the pudding in the long run. Is Libya going to be a workable, hopefully pro western or at least not anti-western country. We need to see where this goes in the long run.”
NBC’s Chuck Todd then picked up on that idea, relating back to Perry’s rhetoric on the campaign trail about possibly holding back on foreign aid to nations that aren’t totally in America’s corner. “Would a President Perry be holding back funds at this point to Libya, or would he be advocating foreign aid to Libya?”
Sullivan’s response: “I think a President Perry wants to make sure that our foreign aid is going to countries that are going to at least work with us to be pro-American to the extent possible, certainly not anti-American. Part of all of this discussion, when it comes to the Obama policy is the whole thing is muddled. It’s hard to determine what exactly is the Obama foreign policy, why they take certain actions in some places and not others. We need to go back to a foreign policy that is in America’s best interest, first and foremost, and that builds a stronger U.S. foreign policy, military, and doesn’t reward bad behavior across the world aimed at us or our allies.”
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