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Where McCain, Obama stand on US foreign policy(Associated Press WorldStream Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Here are some foreign policy issues that the next U.S. president probably will have to wrestle with: ___ AFGHANISTAN McCain: Favors unspecified increase in U.S. forces. Obama: Would bring about 7,000 troops from the Iraq war to reinforce the U.S. force of 36,000. CHINA Both candidates have portrayed China occasionally as partner but more often as adversary. They have attacked Beijing for what they see as China's failure to live up to its duties as an emerging global superpower. The candidates also recognize that the United States needs China, a veto-holding member of the U.N. Security Council, for action to press nuclear nonproliferation in Iran and North Korea. CUBA McCain: Would ease restrictions on Cuba once the United States is "confident that the transition to a free and open democracy is being made" from the communist system Fidel Castro implemented a half-century ago. Obama: Would make family visits in Cuba by Cuban-American families easier and let them send money to relatives in Cuba. Open to meeting new Cuban leader Raul Castro without preconditions. Ease trade embargo if Havana "begins opening Cuba to meaningful democratic change." GLOBAL WARMING McCain: Favors mandatory reductions of greenhouse gases, which are carbon dioxide and other emissions that poison the atmosphere. Advocates market-based cap-and-trade systems that would set emission limits for companies. Wants cuts that would bring emissions of greenhouse gases to 60 percent below 1990 levels. Obama: Generally favors same restrictions and cap-and-trade remedy as McCain. Differs from McCain, however, in the structure of his cap-and-trade plan and emission-reduction targets. Wants cuts that would bring emissions of greenhouse gases to 80 percent below 1990 levels. GUANTANAMO BAY PRISON McCain: Says Guantanamo should be closed, prisoners moved to a U.S. Army prison in Kansas. Wants to negotiate international agreement on how to handle dangerous detainees. Criticized U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Guantanamo prisoners could contest detentions in U.S. courts. Sponsored anti-torture legislation and was a primary supporter of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which established a military-run tribunal system for prosecuting enemy combatants separate from the federal courts. Obama: Says Guantanamo should be closed and detainees allowed to challenge their detention. Criticized Bush administration for neglecting to develop a military justice system to ensure those held were suspected terrorists instead of people "accidentally accused." Praised Supreme Court decision on civilian courts. Voted against the Military Commissions Act of 2006. INTERNATIONAL TRADE McCain: Strongly advocates free trade and bilateral agreements to guarantee it despite growing opposition to them in the United States. Has opposed U.S. agricultural subsidies that have been a major impediment to a new global trade deal. Obama: Says he supports free trade but wants to renegotiate portions of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement among the United States, Canada and Mexico to impose stronger enforcement of labor and environmental standards. IRAN McCain: Favors tougher sanctions, opposes direct high-level talks with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Obama: Initially said he would meet Ahmadinejad without preconditions, now says he's not sure "Ahmadinejad is the right person to meet with right now." But says direct diplomacy with Iranian leaders would give U.S. more credibility to press for tougher international sanctions. Says he would intensify diplomatic pressure on Tehran before Israel feels the need to take unilateral military action against Iranian nuclear facilities. IRAQ McCain: Opposes a scheduled troop withdrawal but says the current strategy is winning the war. Supported Bush's decision to go to war but was critical from early on about how the war was waged. Is willing to have U.S. peacekeeping forces in Iraq for an indefinite period. Obama: Spoke against the war at the start, when he was a state senator in Illinois, and opposed the troop increase last year. Voted against a major military spending bill in May 2007, but otherwise voted for money to prosecute the war. He says as commander in chief, he would withdraw U.S. combat troops within 16 months. ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS McCain: Says he would work to maintain Israel's "qualitative military edge" over Arab states and Iran. Says he supports Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Supports Israeli-Palestinian negotiations toward a two-state solution of their six-decade-old conflict. Obama: Has said his policy toward Israel is the same as McCain's. He once said nobody suffers more than the Palestinians but added later that he meant they suffered from not recognizing Israel and renouncing violence. Has endorsed Bush's two-state solution. MISSILE DEFENSE: McCain: Ardent supporter of U.S. plans to build a European missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. Obama: Has expressed skepticism about the amount of money the United States is spending on missile defense. Supports deploying the European missile defense system but only after it has been tested properly to prove its effectiveness, which could delay it for years. NATO EXPANSION: Both candidates support extending NATO membership to Ukraine and Georgia, former Soviet republics, despite Russian objections. NORTH KOREA McCain: Has criticized Obama's statement, early in the campaign, that he would be willing to meet unconditionally with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Il. Indicates skepticism that North Korea's "totalitarian regime" is "truly committed to verifiable denuclearization." Obama: Distances himself from the hard-line policies that Bush adopted in his first term by playing up his willingness to continue direct talks with North Korea, which Bush only recently embraced. Favors a strong international coalition to eliminate North Korea's nuclear weapons program. PAKISTAN McCain: Advocates continued U.S. cooperation with Pakistan's new government against alien terror cells and camps in northwestern Pakistan. Suggested in late 2007 a long-term U.S. commitment to the rid Pakistan of terrorists. Said in a September presidential debate that he would not say "out loud" that he would launch military strikes into Pakistan, criticizing Obama for doing just that. Obama: Has said he would authorize unilateral military action inside Pakistan should al-Qaida terrorists be found there and Pakistan "cannot or will not act." He calls Afghanistan and Pakistan "the central front in our war against al-Qaida." Blames concentration of terrorists in Pakistan on failed U.S. military strategy in Iraq. RUSSIA McCain: Has been a harsh critic of Russia's government over its aggressive foreign policy and its record on democratic reform and human rights. Has advocated isolating Moscow on the international stage, including its expulsion from the Group of Eight industrial countries. Obama: Has made similar criticisms but argues that Russia is too important to isolate. Has urged continuing cooperation on issues including nuclear anti-proliferation and anti-terror. SUDAN-DARFUR McCain: Has recommended creation of a worldwide "League of Democracies" to handle crisis points such as Sudan's embattled Darfur region. Says the league would avoid difficulties at the United Nations that might arise because of China and Russia's Security Council veto powers. Obama: Wants a no-fly zone to contain government-sponsored violence in Darfur, ideally under the United Nations flag. Signed a statement last May with other Democratic candidates that condemned the violence and said the Sudanese government is chiefly responsible for it and could end it. ___ Associated Press writers Foster Klug and Desmond Butler contributed to this report. Copyright ? 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |