<div class="gmail_quote"><br><a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0311/Barbour_breaks_with_rivals_on_Afghanistan_defense_spending.html" target="_blank">http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0311/Barbour_breaks_with_rivals_on_Afghanistan_defense_spending.html</a><br>
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Barbour breaks with rivals on Afghanistan, defense spending<br>
<br>
Here's a major moment in the nascent Republican presidential primary:<br>
Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour tonight became the first among the<br>
leading Republican candidates to suggest that the United States reduce<br>
its presence in Afghanistan and its spending on defense.<br>
<br>
Barbour echoed the concerns of critics of the Afghan war effort when<br>
asked by reporters in Iowa about American involvement in the conflict:<br>
<br>
He also said that the U.S. should consider reducing the number of<br>
troops in Afghanistan. "I think we need to look at that," he said when<br>
asked if the U.S. should scale back its presence.<br>
<br>
But he said his reasoning isn't financial.<br>
<br>
"What is our mission?" Barbour said. "How many Al Qaeda are in<br>
Afghanistan. ... Is that a 100,000-man Army mission?"<br>
<br>
"I don't think our mission should be to think we're going to make<br>
Afghanistan an Ireland or an Italy" or a Western-style democracy, he<br>
said.<br>
<br>
Barbour's leading Republican rivals have positioned themselves to<br>
President Obama's hawkish right on a range of foreign policy issues.<br>
They've also resisted calls from some associated with the Tea Party<br>
movement for deep cuts to federal spending that would include defense<br>
cuts. In fact, two of the candidates -- Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich<br>
-- have in the past backed the Heritage Foundation's "4 percent for<br>
Freedom" initiative, which would actually raise baseline defense<br>
spending.<br>
<br>
"Anybody who says you can't save money at the Pentagon has never been<br>
to the Pentagon," Barbour said. "We can save money on defense and if<br>
we Republicans don't propose saving money on defense, we'll have no<br>
credibility on anything else."<br>
<br>
--<br></div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Robert Naiman<br>Policy Director<br>Just Foreign Policy<br><a href="http://www.justforeignpolicy.org" target="_blank">www.justforeignpolicy.org</a><br><a href="mailto:naiman@justforeignpolicy.org" target="_blank">naiman@justforeignpolicy.org</a><br>
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