Bob Barr Says McCain/Palin Offer No Change From the Failed Bush Foreign Policy

[Herb Schaffler]

September 8, 2008 2:20 pm EST
Atlanta, GA - “Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin claim to represent reform, but their foreign policy is just more of the same from the Bush administration,” says Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party candidate for president.
Barr refers to Sen. McCain's bellicose comments regarding the Russia-Georgia conflict during his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, in which "the Republican presidential nominee went out of his way to gratuitously denounce Russia and praise Georgia, and in so doing lay the groundwork for future US military involvement in that regional dispute, and a rekindling of the Cold War."
Barr says that Sen. McCain has supported virtually every military intervention or proposed military intervention over the last decade, "and Gov. Palin appears to have signed onto the McCain agenda."
"One of Palin's chief foreign policy briefers is Sen. Joseph Lieberman; another strong advocate of going to war, even when America doesn’t have a vital interest at stake,” notes Barr.
“The Republicans continue to support the Iraq war even though most Americans realize that the invasion was a mistake,” Barr explains. "Iraq did not possess WMDs and had no connection to 9/11. Thousands of Americans and tens or hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died. With violence dropping and Iraq running a big budget surplus, it is time to bring home American troops and leave Iraq to the Iraqis,” he adds.
“War with Iran would be catastrophic. It certainly is not something a candidate for president should sing and joke about, as did Sen. McCain,” says Barr. “I believe that the U.S. government should talk to the Iranian government and work with allied states to find a peaceful solution to the nuclear controversy. Neither Republican nominee appears to understand that a conflict with Iran would be far worse than war with Iraq,” Barr observes.
“Sen. McCain has been even more aggressive than the Bush administration in dealing with Russia, a nuclear armed power,” complains Barr. “It took a half century to end the Cold War. It would be extremely foolish to recreate that hostile atmosphere and threat of war, especially when the U.S. has no strategic interests worth conflict in the Caucasus. America should promote peaceful relations between Russia and Georgia, but stay out of the cross-fire,” says Barr.
“Sometimes war is necessary, but we should never forget that the price of war always is very high,” argues Barr. “The McCain-Palin ticket appears ready to follow the Bush administration’s interventionists policies which have done so much to hurt America’s interest, Only Bob Barr and the Libertarian Party offer genuine change, a cautious and humble foreign policy and a defense policy geared to actually defending America,” Barr says.
Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr represented the 7th District of Georgia in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003.