Watching Tuesday’s Republican “foreign policy” debate left me shocked, depressed and wondering how our political dialogue could possibly have sunk so low. Answering questions clearly constructed for maximum fear-mongering – most of the debate was taken up with talk of ISIS and Islamic terrorism with a little nuclear war and Chinese cyber-attack thrown in – the candidates rudely battled each other to provide the most poorly informed, outrageous and even criminal prescriptions for victory over the terrorists.
Trump said we should kill not only the terrorists but also members of their families (mass murder, war crime). Cruz, a favorite of Christian evangelicals, said he would kill, kill, kill, kill (I lost track of how many times he said the word kill) the terrorists and that we should “carpet bomb” them into oblivion (not done by us since World War II and now a war crime). Christie said he would most definitely shoot down any Russian plane that found itself in a “no fly zone,” which Paul pointed out in one of the debate’s rare moments of sanity, was a great way to start World War III. Rubio, in a real head-scratcher, kept repeating that the key to defeating ISIS was to modernize our decrepit Air Force which in his words “is the oldest and smallest we’ve ever had.” (What? Really?) None of the contenders gave the impression that their opinions came from any sort of thoughtful reflection or consideration of the United States’ complicated set of foreign policy objectives – all leaving me with the feeling that something much scarier than ISIS getting its caliphate was one of these candidates becoming our next president.
Herb Bowman
Durango
