Sen. Graham urges GOP presidential candidates to avoid isolationism

He urged GOP candidates to support foreign aid to Middle
Eastern countries and said they should be ready to criticize President Obama if
he fails to force Moammar Gadhafi to vacate power in Libya.

Graham, one of his party’s most forceful voices on foreign
policy, warned that presidential candidates will encounter a “war-weary” public
that wants to troops to return from Iraq and Afghanistan. Candidates also will
find that pitching increases in foreign aid to key Middle Eastern nations like
Egypt “goes over like a lead balloon.”

The reason such public sentiments worry Graham is “because
it doesn’t take long before the [Republican Party] finds a war-weary nation and
exploits it.”

{mosads}An evolving “unholy alliance” between “the far right and far
left” led by Reps. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) could fan
the flames of an isolationist GOP foreign-policy platform during the 2012
election, Graham said.

The usually hawkish senator urged Republican presidential
candidates to take a long-term view on Washington’s economic, political and military
relations with nations like Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Egypt.

On Iraq and Afghanistan, Graham said candidates should adopt
his view as they fashion their foreign-policy and national-security platforms:
Washington should remain engaged in both nations for several more years; and
U.S. troops must remain in both nations until at least the middle part of this
decade.

Graham said he would be among the first to applaud President
Obama if he can ink new accords with Iraqi and Afghan leaders. Iraq needs U.S.
troops to stay there for a few more years to ensure security, Graham said,
while Afghanistan needs Washington as a political and economic ally to help
transform itself.

Graham also called for ramping up U.S. aid to Egypt, despite
likely public opposition.

“Any Republican who says the U.S. shouldn’t be spending
money in Egypt right now doesn’t understand the benefits,” he said during a
morning talk at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International
Studies (SAIS).

If coalition and rebel forces fail to force Gadhafi from
power, Republican presidential candidates should hit President Obama hard.

“I can’t think of any scenario under which Moammar Gadhafi
stays” that would benefit Obama politically, Graham said, adding if that
happens “Obama will be exposed.”

If he were president, Graham said he would call for U.S.
military aircraft to rejoin a beefed-up coalition bombing and no-fly zone
campaign designed to drive Gadhafi from power by essentially causing his regime
to splinter out of fear.

He was critical of Obama’s decision to put American
involvement into a supporting role after doing the heavy lifting of taking out
Gadhafi’s air defenses and much of his army.

“When I called for a no-fly zone, I meant [Libyan planes],
not us,” he quipped.

The GOP senator also called on Republican presidential
hopefuls to press the president on terrorism detainee policy, on which he said
Obama is “vulnerable.”

He said Obama’s pledge to close the U.S. military detention
facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, “is lost,” adding: “It’s a shame because we
could have had a new jail.”

He pointed out Adm. Michael Mullen recently told the
committee he has “no answer” for where the United States would send a terrorism detainee
captured in a nation like Yemen.

“If I were running for president, I would say, ‘I will give
you an answer.’”

Asked near the end of his 60-minute appearance — chock full
of advice for the party’s list of presidential hopefuls — why he isn’t running
for the White House, Graham quipped: “Because I don’t like term limits.”