Topics in the News: North Korea
John Edwards on Free Trade
: Nov 18, 2007
Opposes trade with Colombia, South Korea, and Peru
If you look at my record through the entire time that I was in the Senate and when I was campaigning for the US Senate, I opposed NAFTA, I opposed CAFTA, I opposed the Colombia trade deal, I opposed the African Caribbean trade deal, I'm opposed to the
South Korean trade deal, I'm opposed today to the proposal for a new trade deal with Peru. I think I've actually been very consistent. Senator Clinton is for the Peru trade deal. I'm against it. She's for a moratorium, stopping any further trade deals.
Click for John Edwards on other issues.
Source: CNN Late Edition: 2007 presidential series with Wolf Blitzer
Barack Obama on Foreign Policy
: Nov 11, 2007
Willing to meet with Fidel Castro, Kim Jung Il & Hugo Chavez
Q: In July, you were asked if you were willing to meet separately without pre-condition during your first year with Fidel Castro, Kim Jung Il, Hugo Chavez. You said yes. You stand by that?A: I do. Now, I did not say that I would be meeting with all of
them. I said I'd be willing to. Obviously, there is a difference between pre-conditions and preparation. Pre-conditions, which was what the question was in that debate, means that we won't meet with people unless they've already agreed to the very things
that we expect to be meeting with them about. And obviously, when we say to Iran, "We won't meet with you until you've agreed to all the terms that we've laid out," from their perspective that's not a negotiation, that's not a meeting.
Q:
You're not afraid of being used in a propaganda way?
A: You know, strong countries and strong presidents speak with their adversaries. I always think back to JFK's saying that we should never negotiate out of fear, but we shouldn't fear to negotiate.
Click for Barack Obama on other issues.
Source: Meet the Press: 2007 "Meet the Candidates" series
John McCain on War & Peace
: Nov 4, 2007
Iran & Syria must not get nukes; they'll exterminate Israel
Q: Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said about Iranian nukes, "Confrontation would lead absolutely to a disaster. I see no military solution. The only durable solution is through negotiation & inspection.
I know you are pretty strong in your conviction that the Iranians are building a nuclear bomb.A: I wonder if Mohamed ElBaradei knew that the Syrians were, with the help of North Korea, building a facility that would be used for the construction of
nuclear weapons. The facts are that if Iran acquires a nuclear weapon, the other countries in the region will acquire them as well. If they acquire a nuclear weapon, they have dedicated themselves to the extermination of the state of Israel.
That's their statement, not mine. We need to get the Europeans, who they seem to be interested in joining us in meaningful sanctions, whether it be diplomatic trade, economic & others, and put enormous pressures on Iran. Iran cannot have nuclear weapons.
Click for John McCain on other issues.
Source: CNN Late Edition: 2007 presidential series with Wolf Blitzer
Rudy Giuliani on Free Trade
: Oct 9, 2007
Good deals pending with Peru, Colombia, Panama, South Korea
Q: Has this country become protectionist, or are there serious, real national security concerns?A: I think we're on a verge of going in one direction or another. I mean, for example, if you want to get specific, the four trade deals with Peru,
Colombia, Panama, South Korea that are in front of Congress right now, which the Democrats are trying to block, would be good deals for the US. In 3 of the 4 of them, we would actually get to export more than we're importing. Why they would want to
block this I can't understand. We're already importing about 98% from those countries. [Regarding protectionism], I think you got to almost separate them into two different categories. There's economic protection, and then there's protection for safety,
security and legal rights. And I don't think we've done a particularly good job on the second. We can't say because these agreements weren't perfect, because they have problems, because they have issues, we're going to turn our back on free trade.
Click for Rudy Giuliani on other issues.
Source: 2007 Republican debate in Dearborn, Michigan
John McCain on War & Peace
: Sep 16, 2007
Americans want to win; bin Laden thinks he's winning now
Q: If a majority of the Congress & the American people want a different policy in Iraq, can you sustain a war without their support?A: Not forever. The majority of Americans were opposed to [the US military presence in] Korea. Thanks to a very brave
president named Harry Truman, at least South Korea is now free today. I hear from hundreds of men and women, all the time. They want us to win.
Q: When you say win, how do you define win?
A: The same way you succeed in any counterinsurgency.
The government functions effectively, there's an environment of security. But, basically, you continue to progress and to bring a free and open and democratic society and fight back [against any long-term conflict]. Look, this is an evil influence. They
think they're winning. If you listen to bin Laden & Zarqawi, they say they drove us out of Beirut, they drove us out of Mogadishu, they hit the USS Cole, they attacked our embassies, and they're saying, "We'll drive them out of Iraq, and we will succeed.
Click for John McCain on other issues.
Source: Meet the Press: 2007 "Meet the Candidates" series
Newt Gingrich on Homeland Security
: Sep 1, 2007
Contain nuclear threats:China, Russia, Pakistan, North Korea
Every day, terrorists try to acquire weapons of mass destruction & weapons of mass murder. Iran & North Korea continue to develop their nuclear and other weapons programs. There is constant danger of a coup by radical Islamists in nuclear-armed Pakistan.
And the greatest danger for us in meeting this threat is the weakness of our intelligence services. We do not have any significant intelligence on the enemy's plans, networks, & troop strength.
Second, we must contain powers that could threaten us,
including China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, & Pakistan--all of which have weapons of mass destruction.
The greatest threat of rogue dictatorships, like Iran or North Korea, is that they will sell weapons of mass destruction. While North
Korea--with nuclear, chemical, & biological weapons--is a big threat to South Korea & Japan, it is a very distant threat to the US. But an Iran or a North Korea willing to sell nuclear and biological weapons to terrorists is very dangerous to America.
Click for Newt Gingrich on other issues.
Source: Gingrich Communications website, www.newt.org, "Issues"
Ron Paul on War & Peace
: Aug 5, 2007
Iraq war is illegal; undeclared wars never end & we lose
Q: What would be your strategy for ending the war in Iraq?PAUL: Just come home. We just marched in. We can just come back. We went in there illegally. We did not declare war. It's lasting way too long. We didn't declare war in Korea or Vietnam.
The wars were never really ended. We lose those wars. We're losing this one. We shouldn't be there. We ought to just come home. The #1 reason it's in our national self-interest & for our national security, think of our defenses now, how rundown they are.
What is the morale of our military today when they're sent over there for 12 months and then they're kept for another three months? They come home and, with less than a year's rest, they're sent back again. Congress is currently trying to change the
rules so we give these men an adequate rest. This war is not going well because the foreign policy is defective.
HUNTER: I'm tired of the Democrats and my colleague saying, "Come home." It's a race to see who could stampede for the exit the quickest.
Click for Ron Paul on other issues.
Source: 2007 GOP Iowa Straw Poll debate
Joe Biden on War & Peace
: Jul 31, 2007
Bush invaded Iraq as the weakest of the Axis of Evil
The Bush neo-cons identified the biggest threats--North Korea, Iran, & Iraq. Toppling the Taliban had been a nice start for the Neo-cons, but they thought the way to handle the world's malcontents and to avoid war was to take out one of the "axis of evil
leaders in a way that made the others quake. They wanted to leverage our nation's awesome military power in a way that sent a strong message: enable terrorists and we'll wipe you out. You're either with us, Bush liked to say of his "war on terror," or
you're against us.I thought this approach was flawed. The facts showed that terrorist groups didn't base their training camps in countries with strong governments or dictators; they found safe haven in failed states & grew stronger in the vacuum of
power.
There was a lot of noise about overthrowing Saddam Hussein. Of the three Axis of Evil countries, Iraq was the country that could put up the least military resistance, and I believed Cheney & Rumsfeld were pushing the president toward an invasion
Click for Joe Biden on other issues.
Source: Promises to Keep, by Joe Biden, p.330-331
Hillary Clinton on Foreign Policy
: Jul 23, 2007
Diplomacy yes; propaganda no; when meeting enemy leaders
Q: Would you be willing to meet separately, without precondition, during the first year of your administration, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba & N.Korea?OBAMA: I would. The notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment
to them is ridiculous. I think that it is a disgrace that we have not spoken to them.
CLINTON: I will not promise to meet with the leaders of these countries during my first year. I will promise a very vigorous diplomatic effort but not a high level
meeting before you know what the intentions are. I don't want to be used for propaganda purposes. But I certainly agree that we need to get back to diplomacy, which has been turned into a bad word by this administration. I will use a lot of high-level
presidential envoys to test the waters, to feel the way. But certainly, we're not going to just have our president meet with Fidel Castro & Hugo Chavez & the president of North Korea, Iran & Syria until we know better what the way forward would be.
Click for Hillary Clinton on other issues.
Source: 2007 YouTube Democratic Primary debate, Charleston SC
Barack Obama on Foreign Policy
: Jul 23, 2007
Meet with enemy leaders; it's a disgrace that we have not
Q: Would you be willing to meet separately, without precondition, during the first year of your administration, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea?OBAMA: I would. And the reason is this: the notion that somehow not
talking to countries is punishment to them--which has been the guiding diplomatic principle of this administration--is ridiculous. Ronald Reagan constantly spoke to Soviet Union at a time when he called them an evil empire. He understood that we may not
trust them and they may pose an extraordinary danger to this country, but we had the obligation to find areas where we can potentially move forward. And I think that it is a disgrace that we have not spoken to them.
CLINTON: I will not promise to meet
with the leaders of these countries during my first year. I don't want to be used for propaganda purposes. I don't want to make a situation even worse. But I certainly agree that we need to get back to diplomacy.
Click for Barack Obama on other issues.
Source: 2007 YouTube Democratic Primary debate, Charleston SC
John Edwards on Foreign Policy
: Jul 23, 2007
Meet with enemy leaders after diplomacy first
Q: Would you be willing to meet separately, without precondition, during the first year of your administration, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba & N.Korea?OBAMA: I would. The notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment
to them is ridiculous. I think that it is a disgrace that we have not spoken to them.
CLINTON: I will not promise to meet with the leaders of these countries during my first year. I don't want to be used for propaganda purposes. But I certainly agree
that we need to get back to diplomacy.
Q: Sen. Edwards, would you meet with them?
EDWARDS: Yes, and I think actually Sen. Clinton's right though. Before that meeting takes place, we need to do the diplomacy to make sure that that meeting's not going
to be used for propaganda purposes, will not be used to just beat down the US in the world community. But I think this is just a piece of a bigger question, which is, what do we actually do to restore America's moral leadership in the world?
Click for John Edwards on other issues.
Source: 2007 YouTube Democratic Primary debate, Charleston SC
John Cox on Homeland Security
: Jul 2, 2007
Nuclear shield to make nuclear weapons obsolete
Iran, North Korea and al-Qaeda are growing threats; we must adopt Ronald Reagan's "Peace Through Strength" philosophy and communicate a policy of democracy and economic opportunity throughout the world. As president,
I would strengthen our intelligence services, and I support a nuclear shield that could make nuclear weapons obsolete. I would balance protecting our civil liberties with the need to protect our national interests.
Click for John Cox on other issues.
Source: Campaign website, cox2008.com
Bill Richardson on Foreign Policy
: Jun 19, 2007
Talking to your enemies can produce results, like N. Korea
Two months ago in North Korea, I was proud to help show how talking to your enemies can produce results. We need to bring back diplomacy in our foreign policy. We need to remember what the great Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said. He said, you
don't make peace with your friends; you make peace with your enemies. With North Korea, we were able to push the North Koreans, possibly, to start reducing their nuclear threat, and we did bring home the remains of six American servicemen from the
Korean War.
The situation is similar to the Middle East. This president broke Iraq. The next president needs to know how to use diplomacy to fix it. My world view is different from my colleagues. In my career, I've been able to get results not with
harsh words but hard work. You talk to your adversaries. You listen. And with clarity comes cooperation. It's how I have approached foreign policy. It's how I have approached governing. And it's how I'll serve, hopefully, as your president.
Click for Bill Richardson on other issues.
Source: Take Back America 2007 Conference
Bill Richardson on War & Peace
: Jun 10, 2007
Obsession with Iraq makes us more vulnerable to al Qaeda
Q: Why not give this new strategy that General Petraeus is trying to implement a chance?A: I respect him very much, but the reality is that our troops have become the targets. This is an outright civil war, a sectarian conflict.
Q:
There is even talk now of having some sort of Korea-like presence in Iraq for decades to come. Is that acceptable?
A: Well, it is totally unacceptable. I've been in Korea many, many times. It's totally a different situation.
And my concern is that the surge that we proposed, the policy of continuing this conflict with more troops, is going to leave us more vulnerable to Al Qaida. Our obsession with Iraq has caused us to lose focus in the fight against
international terrorism and Al Qaida, nuclear proliferation, a loose nuclear weapon, and other challenges that we face, like global climate change, other issues that affect our national security in the region.
Click for Bill Richardson on other issues.
Source: CNN Late Edition: 2007 presidential series with Wolf Blitzer
Bill Richardson on War & Peace
: Jun 10, 2007
No long-term Korea-like presence in Iraq
Q: You've recommended that the US get out of Iraq effectively by the end of this year. The US commander, General Petraeus, is now saying that some progress is being made. Why not give this new strategy that Gen. Petraeus is trying to implement a chance?
A: I'm pleased with that progress and I respect him very much, but the reality is that our troops have become the targets. This is an outright civil war, a sectarian conflict.
Q: There is even talk now of having some sort of Korea-like presence in
Iraq for decades to come. Is that unacceptable?
A: It is totally unacceptable. I've been in Korea many, many times, in North Korea and South Korea. The South Koreans want us there. There is no outright shooting taking place.
It's totally a different situation. And my concern is that the surge that we proposed, the policy of continuing this conflict with more troops, is going to leave us more vulnerable to Al Qaida.
Click for Bill Richardson on other issues.
Source: CNN Late Edition: 2007 presidential series with Wolf Blitzer
Bill Richardson on Principles & Values
: May 27, 2007
Running on resume & record, to be president of middle class
Q: Let me show you a commercial your campaign is running:(Videotape)
Man posing as job interviewer: (To Richardson) OK, 14 years in Congress; UN ambassador; secretary of energy; governor of New Mexico; negotiated with dictators in Iraq,
North Korea, Cuba, Zaire, Nigeria, Yugoslavia, Kenya; got a cease-fire in Darfur; nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize four times. So what makes you think you can be president?
(End videotape)
Q: You're running on your resume.
A:
I'm running on my record. And the reason for that ad is I'm an insurgent candidate. You've got to do things differently. I'm also positive. I'm trying to draw attention not just to my record, but the fact that I can bring people together.
The country is bitterly divided. We need to regain our international moral authority. I believe I know how to be a president for the middle class, improve our schools, universal health care. That was what I'm trying to get through in that message.
Click for Bill Richardson on other issues.
Source: Meet the Press: 2007 "Meet the Candidates" series
Newt Gingrich on Foreign Policy
: May 20, 2007
We need a dramatically expanded use of statecraft
Sen. DODD: Why aren't we using statecraft? What's happened to the utilization of other tools available to us--our economic, our political, our diplomatic resources--which are almost been neglected in this entire process?GINGRICH: I partially agree
with Sen. Dodd. I am not comfortable either with the current situation in Iraq, nor am I comfortable around the world with our extraordinarily limited use of statecraft. The North Koreans are cheating on their agreement on nuclear weapons. We still do no
have control of Waziristan in northwest Pakistan, where Bin Laden's probably hiding. We have been told by the UN that the Iranians are now producing at least 1300 centrifuges, producing nuclear material, and that they almost certainly will have a nuclear
weapon within a year. You look around the world, the forces of freedom are on retreat, the forces that are anti-freedom, pro-dictatorship, and, in some cases, purely evil are on offense. We need a dramatically expanded ability to use statecraft.
Click for Newt Gingrich on other issues.
Source: Meet the Press: 2007 "Meet the Candidates" series
Al Gore on Foreign Policy
: May 16, 2007
Bush's division into good vs. evil is Christian heresy
Bush offered Americans a way to cut through the complexities of foreign policy by sorting every nation in the world into two simple categories: "You're either with us or against us." He described Iraq, Iran & North Korea as the "Axis of Evil."The day
after 9/11, Bush announced, "This will be a monumental struggle of good versus evil, but good will prevail." Two days later, Bush proclaimed that his "responsibility to history was to rid the world of evil." I remember being astonished at the grandiosity
& hubris of his claim that he could & would "rid the world of evil." Really?
The following week, Bush addressed Congress, saying God had foreordained the outcome of the conflict. Bush's view of his policies in the context of a fateful spiritual
conflict between good & evil does not really represent Christian doctrine. It actually more closely resembles an ancient Christian heresy called Manichaeism, that sought to divide all of reality into two simple categories, absolute god and absolute evil.
Click for Al Gore on other issues.
Source: The Assault on Reason, by Al Gore, p. 54-56
Ron Paul on War & Peace
: May 15, 2007
We should have declared war in Iraq, or not gone in at all
Q: You're one of 6 House Republicans in 2002 who voted against authorizing Pres. Bush to use force in Iraq.A: Right.
Q: Now you say we should pull our troops out?
A: In 2002, I offered an amendment to declare war, up or down. Nobody voted for the
war. And my argument there was, if we want to go to war, the Congress should declare it. We don't go to war like we did in Vietnam and Korea, because the wars never end. And I argued the case and made the point that it would be a quagmire if we go in.
Click for Ron Paul on other issues.
Source: 2007 Republican Debate in South Carolina
Duncan Hunter on Homeland Security
: May 3, 2007
Rebuild national defense for emerging threats
I've been chairman of the Armed Services Committee for the last four years. I've helped to rebuild national defense. We have worked hard to make sure that our people have enough pay, that they've got the ammunition & equipment, while at the same time
looking over the horizon to look at the new threat of an emerging China and an Iran that is pursuing nuclear weapons and a Korea that already has some and is moving to get the means for delivery. So a strong national defense is what I would pursue.
Click for Duncan Hunter on other issues.
Source: 2007 GOP primary debate, at Reagan library, hosted by MSNBC
Joe Biden on Foreign Policy
: Apr 26, 2007
Biggest threat to US is from North Korea, Iran, & Russia
Q: What three nations, other than Iraq, represent, to you, the biggest threat to the United States? A: The biggest threat to the US is, right now, North Korea. Iran not as big a threat, but a long-term threat.
And quite frankly, the tendency of Putin to move in a totalitarian direction, which would unhinge all that's going on positively in Europe.
Click for Joe Biden on other issues.
Source: 2007 South Carolina Democratic primary debate, on MSNBC
Bill Richardson on Foreign Policy
: Apr 26, 2007
Being stubborn isn't a foreign policy--diplomacy is
This president characterizes this--being stubborn isn't a foreign policy. And power without diplomacy is blank. I would focus my presidency on dealing with the real threats to America. International terrorism, nuclear proliferation. I've dealt directly
with North Korea, & made the situation better. I would deal with issues like Darfur. Why is it that America does not care about Africa, about genocide, about issues relating to enormous amount of deaths that are brought forth by international poverty?
Click for Bill Richardson on other issues.
Source: 2007 South Carolina Democratic primary debate, on MSNBC
Chris Dodd on War & Peace
: Mar 4, 2007
10,000 terrorist attacks: they've ALREADY followed us home
Q: The president says "if we leave Iraq before the job is done, the enemy will follow us here." What do you say to the president?A: That kind of language I think has no appropriate place today. Look, the war is all over the world today.
We've had some 10,000 terrorist attacks. The suggestion somehow that if we're staying in Iraq, it's going to stop the problems occurring in London, Madrid and South Korea and elsewhere,
I think has been done away with by most people who have thought about this at all. We've got a serious problem. We need to build international cooperation in order to succeed in this effort against global terrorism.
The notion somehow that if we stay in Iraq, we're going to deal with this problem, I think, has just been debunked over the last number of months and I hope we can move beyond that.
Click for Chris Dodd on other issues.
Source: CNN Late Edition: 2007 presidential series with Wolf Blitzer
Bill Richardson on War & Peace
: Feb 21, 2007
Find ways to withdraw from Iraq, but with diplomacy
I think it's critically important too that if we're going to resolve the situation in Iraq, in the Middle East, in the Persian Gulf, you can't do it by just dealing with Iraq alone. You've got to find ways to withdraw, but with diplomacy.
And that means talking to those that don't agree with us -- to Iran, to Syria. (Applause.) I mean, for once the president listened and he talked to North Korea directly, and we got a little bit of an agreement.
Click for Bill Richardson on other issues.
Source: 2007 AFSCME Democratic primary debate in Carson City Nevada
Mike Gravel on War & Peace
: Dec 25, 2006
Commence an immediate and orderly withdrawal from Iraq
The Gravel Agenda: When elected President by the American people, I will:- Commence an immediate and orderly withdrawal from Iraq;
- Broker a cease fire in Gaza and the West Bank and promote diplomacy;
- Establish diplomatic relations with
Iran and N. Korea to stop the proliferation of WMD;
- Launch and leading a massive global scientific effort to end energy dependence on oil and integrating the world's scientific community to this task.
Click for Mike Gravel on other issues.
Source: Campaign website, www.gravel2008.us, "Issues"
Newt Gingrich on War & Peace
: Nov 23, 2006
Critical of how Iraq war has been fought
The former House speaker has been critical of the war and the way it has been fought. He has said the United States should withdraw most of its troops from Iraq, leaving a small force behind similar to the postwar forces in Korea and Germany.
Click for Newt Gingrich on other issues.
Source: People's Daily (China), "Contenders views on the war"
Mike Gravel on Foreign Policy
: Aug 15, 2006
Bi-lateral plus multi-lateral talks with North Korea
My position on North Korea is unambiguous: I would initiate bi-lateral talks between the US and North Korea that complement the multi-lateral talks. I would make it clear to the North Korean government that proceeding with a nuclear program is not in its
long term best interests while keeping other minor regional players abreast of negotiations. Artful and aggressive diplomacy can be even more lethal but less dangerous than the use of military force and thus will be the cornerstone of my foreign policy.
Click for Mike Gravel on other issues.
Source: The Gravel Report, vol. 1, no. 1, "The High Road"
Bill Richardson on Homeland Security
: Feb 2, 2005
Negotiated for 1994 release of pilots downed in North Korea
We landed in Pyongyang on Dec. 17, 1994 [for a Congressional tour. The same week included the] downing a US military helicopter in North Korea. I asked after the crew. The Vice Minister told me the helicopter had a crew of two, but he said he could not
comment on their condition. With that, my mission to North Korea was utterly transformed. "It is critically important to turn over these pilots to US authorities," I told the Vice Minister. Not possible, he said: This was a military matter, and nothing
would be done until the Korean People's Army completed its investigation of the incident. The US Secretary of State confirmed my mission. One pilot, Bobby Hall, was fine, but David Hilemon had perished in the downing of their helicopter. [After days
of negotiating], on Dec. 21 offered that if I left Pyongyang, I could escort Hilemon's remains home, and Hall would be released `very soon.' I accepted. Hall was released on Dec. 30, with the US signing a document expressing `sincere regret'.
Click for Bill Richardson on other issues.
Source: Between Worlds, by Bill Richardson, p. 135-144
Bill Richardson on Foreign Policy
: Feb 2, 2005
Clinton administration negotiated North Korea nuclear freeze
In the 1990s, South Korea was an extraordinary success story. North Korea, on the other hand, seemed a fossil frozen in a bizarre prehistory, its politics imprisoned in a Stalinist cult of personality, its economy a stagnant relic isolated from market
forces driving prosperity elsewhere. North Korea did have one claim to modernity that earned it the enmity of the US and other Western countries: It had a fairly sophisticated uranium-enrichment program dating back to the 1980s that was not limited to
uses permitted under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. By the early 1990s, in fact, it was clear that North Korea was prepared to produce nuclear weapons and might even have made a couple of them.
Pres. Bill Clinton engaged North Korea in a long
and arduous set of negotiations aimed at ending its nuclear-weapons program. In Oct. 1994, the two countries signed an agreement to freeze and eventually unplug the North Korean nuclear facilities that were capable of making atomic weapons.
Click for Bill Richardson on other issues.
Source: Between Worlds, by Bill Richardson, p. 132-133
Barack Obama on War & Peace
: Jul 12, 2004
Engage North Korea in 6-party talks
[We should] address the threat posed by North Korea. By refusing to negotiate with North Korea for three and half years, experts believe that North Korea may now be close to having six to eight nuclear weapons.
We must immediately insist on complete and verifiable elimination of North Korea's nuclear capability, engage in Six-Party bilateral talks, and facilitate a reform agenda that is broader than denuclearization to address humanitarian concerns.
Click for Barack Obama on other issues.
Source: Press Release, "Renewal of American Leadership "
John McCain on Principles & Values
: Apr 1, 2004
We are indebted to those who shed blood for us
Pay your debts. The firefighters, police officers, and emergency workers who raced toward the danger that others fled, or tried to flee, bestowed by their sacrifice an obligation on the rest of us. The soldiers who embarked to distant, dangerous lands,
to take the war to our enemies and away from us, away from our loved ones, bestowed an obligation on us. So, too, did the soldiers on Peleiu, in Korea, in Vietnam, and in all the savage battles in all the wars of our history. They are blood debts we owe.
Click for John McCain on other issues.
Source: Why Courage Matters, p.201
John Edwards on War & Peace
: Mar 3, 2004
Work with allies to shut down North Korea's nuclear program
The U.S. must deal with North Korea firmly, directly, and immediately. Working with allies, our urgent priority must be to shut down North Korea's nuclear program.
We also have to work to put North Korea on a path of political and economic openness, and toward the peaceful resolution of all tensions with our ally South Korea.
Click for John Edwards on other issues.
Source: 2004 Presidential National Political Awareness Test
John Edwards on War & Peace
: Oct 27, 2003
Negotiating with North Korea would make world safer
Q: North Korea seems willing to give up nuclear weapons for food and money. What is your plan for solving these situations? EDWARDS: We should negotiate with the North Koreans. We should be tough.
We should require that they stop their nuclear development program, nuclear weapons development program. We should have the absolute ability to verify that that has occurred. We should be willing to do something in return.
Click for John Edwards on other issues.
Source: Democratic Presidential 2004 Primary Debate in Detroit
Al Gore on Foreign Policy
: Oct 4, 2000
North Korea: Continue exploring rapprochement
Q. What about lifting sanctions on the North Koreans?A. Incredibly enough, we have seen a positive response to initiatives there. The strategy for getting North Korea off its nuclear bent has yielded some tentative positive results. Of course, the
jury is still out. We have seen a very emotional beginning of rapprochement on the peninsula. There is clearly a desire to explore the changes that would make it possible for them to have a more normal relationship with the rest of the world.
Click for Al Gore on other issues.
Source: Press Interview in Ohio
John McCain on Foreign Policy
: Feb 15, 2000
Overthrow “rogue” governments to keep Americans safe
Q: What area of international policy would you change immediately?
A: Our policies concerning rogue states: Iraq, Libya, North Korea-those countries that continue to try to acquire weapons of mass destruction and the means
to deliver them. I’d institute a policy that I call “rogue state rollback.” I would arm, train, equip, both from without and from within, forces that would eventually overthrow the governments and install free and democratically elected governments.
Click for John McCain on other issues.
Source: GOP Debate on the Larry King Show
John McCain on Foreign Policy
: Apr 30, 1999
Korea: ease starvation, but avoid war during death throes
[Five years ago,] the US promised North Korea food and energy support, [plus] nuclear reactors, in exchange for the cessation of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. A firmer response might have triggered a war; refusing to help ease the deprivations
in the North, and hastening the collapse of the regime might have also resulted in war. North Korea is still inexorably nearing total collapse, and its leaders remain quite capable of launching in their country’s death throes one final, glorious war.
Click for John McCain on other issues.
Source: www.mccain2000.com/ “Position Papers” 4/30/99
Barack Obama on Government Reform
: Aug 1, 1996
Campaign race baiting works in both directions
Black politicians discovered what white politicians had known for a very long time: that race-baiting could make up for a host of limitations. Younger leaders, eager to make a name for themselves, upped the ante, peddling conspiracy theories all over tow
-the Koreans were funding the Klan, Jewish doctors were injecting black babies with AIDS. It was a shortcut to fame, if not always fortune; like sex or violence on TV, black rage always found a ready market. Nobody I spoke with in the neighborhood seemed
to take such talk very seriously. As it was, many had already given up the hope that politics could actually improve their lives, much less make demands on them. To them, a ballot, if cast at all, was simply a ticket to a good show. Black had no real
power to act on the occasional slips into anti-Semitism or Asian-bashing, people would tell me; and anyway, black folks needed a chance to let off a little steam every once in a while-what do you think those folks say about us behind our backs?
Click for Barack Obama on other issues.
Source: Dreams from My Father, by Barack Obama, p.186
Mike Gravel on Foreign Policy
: Jan 1, 1972
US should empower UN with stand-by peace force
The US has systematically undercut the power of the UN and used it for our own purposes. We use our influence to secure a UN cover for our intervention in Korea. We deliberately ignored efforts by the UN to produce a peaceful settlement in Vietnam.The
US, as the most powerful country, must now lead the way in building up the power and capacity of the UN to act effectively in areas of conflict.
In the long-run, I believe the UN must develop into the primary peace-keeping force on earth, and we should
take the lead in this development.
A more powerful UN must grow slowly, applying its influence initially in regions where the conflicts of interest are limited and where the parties involved want to avoid war and seek peace. Beyond this, it can apply
sanctions in cases of colonial oppression to permit independence movements to achieve legitimate ends. And it can maintain a permanent stand-by peace force, to serve as a presence whenever armed conflict threatens.
Click for Mike Gravel on other issues.
Source: Citizen Power, by Sen. Mike Gravel, p. 58-59