ANALYSIS | Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is struggling to remain relevant in the 2012 GOP presidential race. He unveiled his new "Contract with America" in late September outlining several policies he would implement. Not one of them mentioned any foreign policy moves except for border security with Mexico.
Voters will be hard-pressed to find Gingrich talking about foreign policies now when so much of the Republican debate is focused on domestic issues like government spending and the economy. Here are some revealing tidbits of what Gingrich has said about America's place in global diplomacy.
Iraq
Nearly five years ago, Gingrich labeled the Iraq War a failure, according to the Boston Globe in November 2006. Gingrich spoke to voters in New Hampshire at the time. He also believed George W. Bush didn't have a sound strategy for getting troops out of harm's way.
Gingrich believes our military should have definable goals before entering a conflict.
"Military force must be used judiciously and with clear, obtainable objectives understood by Congress," his campaign website states.
He goes on to say that the United States needs a broad strategy to defeat extreme Islam. Gingrich notes that a strong and vocal minority of radical Muslims must be handled with definite goals in mind.
Afghanistan
The former Speaker of the House was critical of the strategy in Afghanistan. He likened it to not having a definable purpose in the foreign country when the war first started. Gingrich spoke to a group of voters in Iowa.
"You're dealing with Afghan culture that is fundamentally different than us, in ways we don't understand. It is not going to end well," Gingrich said, according to Politico in July 2010.
He went further a year later in June 2011. ABC News reported the presidential candidate said the "tide of war is not receding" in terms of America's security against terrorism. He felt Afghanistan was not ready for American troops to withdraw a year from now.
Middle East
Most of Gingrich's statements are focused on the Middle East and the Arab Spring. In late June at a speech in Maryland, Gingrich was cynical of the outcome of protests and regime changes in the Middle East and North Africa.
"I'm not very comfortable that Egypt is going to work out well. I'm not very comfortable that Tunisia is going to work out well. I'm not very comfortable that Libya is going to work out well, but of course the president has promised us that the tide of war is receding, but I think we may in fact be seeing the buildup of an enormous wave of violence on a scale we have not seen in a long time," the Washington Times quoted Gingrich.
His harshest words were towards Iran. In an exclusive interview with the National Review , Gingrich said it was "like the 1930s" in regards to the potential genocide of Israelis. He likened the regime there to Adolf Hitler of Germany and felt President Obama should have a stronger stance against Iran.
China
The basis of a policy for China can be found back in 2003 with an interview done for PBS. In it, Gingrich believed modernizing China was a good thing for America and would make the world safer as we develop friendships and educational opportunities with Chinese citizens.
More recently in November 2010, Gingrich told U.S. News & World Report that America needs to be able to compete with China and India in order to be safe and free in a modern world. The United States must reform itself radically in order to catch up to those growing economies.
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