Mitch Perry
In an interview with the conservative Daily Caller regarding his foreign policy views, Jeb Bush says that unlike when the U.S. re-established relations with communist governments in China and Vietnam, the U.S. is getting “nothing” out of its rapprochement with Cuba.
“The difference between, say, China or Vietnam is we got something in return when we negotiated diplomatic relations with those countries,” Bush said. “We had China enter into the [World Trade Organization] and we’ve driven them in some way as it relates to just being a partner, not just a partner for us, but a trading partner with the rest of the world — embracing standards that were global.”
“In the case of Vietnam, we got parity as it related to POWs and MIAs,” he said. “We’ve got nothing in return for this effort other than to have, I guess, Barack Obama claim that this happened under his watch. This is a legacy building thing that perpetuates the regime.”
Bush’s criticism echoes that of his Miami-area neighbor, fellow GOP presidential candidate Marco Rubio, who has issued similar criticisms since the president announced the renewal of diplomatic relations in December.
But Bush goes well beyond speaking about Cuba in his interview with The Daily Caller’s Jamie Weinstein regarding the U.S.’ relationship with other countries in the world.
Twelve years after the U.S. invaded Iraq, Bush seems much less enthusiastic than his brother George W. was when it comes to the idea that the U.S. can spread democracy throughout the Middle East.
Saying that liberal democracy is a value that the U.S. must promote, he said, “It has to be tempered with the realization that not every country is immediately going to become a little ‘d’ democratic country. Iraq would be a good example of that I think.” He went on to say that if there is a layer of security that wasn’t present in Iraq, liberal democracy can take root.
“I think ultimately security will lead towards democracy and having an engaged America will help make that so, but you cannot have democracy without security,” he said referring to Iraq and Afghanistan, where the U.S. has been fighting since 2001.
Like virtually all of the candidates running for the GOP nomination for president, Bush finds plenty to criticize President Obama about when it comes to how he has handled his foreign policy. Specifically, Bush brings up Egypt, formerly one of America’s closest allies in the Middle East.
In the 2011 Arab Spring, protestors rallied for 18 straight days before then-incumbent Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down that February. Bush didn’t respond to a question whether the U.S. should have stood by Mubarak, a dictator for more than 29 years in Egypt. But he does say that the U.S. wasn’t prepared for what do do next.
“My complaints about President Obama’s tenure as president is — apart from believing America’s presence in the world, America’s leadership in the world hasn’t been a force for good and as we pull back it creates, all over the world, insecurity — there isn’t a doctrine that guides our policy. It could be a mix of advocacy of freedom and democracy with security, with the focus also on our economic interests. But whatever it is, it hasn’t been expressed in a way that creates consistency, that creates transparency of what America believes in and what America stands for.”
Mohamed Morsi ultimately succeeded Mubarak, becoming Egypt’s first elected president. A member of the Muslim Brotherhood, he was overthrown in a coup in July of 2013, and replaced by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Bush praises Sisi for being willing “to stand up against these Islamic terrorists.”
Weinstein writes that Bush says Sisi “should be rewarded” for standing up to Islamist extremism. Such a policy would help the U.S. “have influence and a relationship with the government” and once you have that, Bush said, “you can also express the desires of other elements of our foreign policy.”
