Romney Campaign Press Release - In Case You Missed It: Governor Mitt Romney On National Security And Families

ABC's "This Week"

February 18, 2007

Governor Mitt Romney On Iraq:

To view Governor Romney addressing the war in Iraq, please see:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7296045895506236730

ABC'S GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: "National security, you're a management consultant again. You've come into the United States looking at the commander-in-chief. Do you keep him or let him go?"

GOVERNOR ROMNEY: "Well, you have to look at Iraq and Iraq was superbly executed in terms of taking down Saddam Hussein's government. But I think everybody recognizes, from the president to Tony Blair to Secretary Rumsfeld that post the period of major conflict, we had major problems in the way we've managed the war in Iraq, and that has contributed to much of the difficulty we have today. It was under-planned, under-prepared, under-staffed, too low a level of troops, under-managed."

STEPHANOPOULOS: "But how do you explain why all that planning wasn't done? President Bush is a Harvard MBA, too."

GOVERNOR ROMNEY: "Well, everybody has their own management style and their own approach and I respect enormously the approach other people. Mine is just different. And if you read "Cobra II" and "Assassins' Gate" and "Looming Tower" and some of the reports of the events leading up not only to 9/11, but to the conflict itself, there's a sense that we really weren't ready for the post major conflict period. And that has resulted in a blossoming of the sectarian violence, of insurgents within the country and from without, and a setting which is a very troubled, difficult position."

STEPHANOPOULOS: "Yet, you support the president's decision to send more troops right now."

GOVERNOR ROMNEY: "Yeah."

STEPHANOPOULOS: "How much time do you give it to work?"

GOVERNOR ROMNEY: "Well, it's not years. I think you're going to know within months."

STEPHANOPOULOS: "Mayor Giuliani said the other night he's not confident it's going to work. Are you?"

GOVERNOR ROMNEY: "Well, you know, I think it's hard to predict whether this troop surge will work, but I'm absolutely confident it's the right thing to do."

Governor Mitt Romney On North Korea:


To view Governor Romney discussing the recent agreement with North Korea, please see:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7326271421281225687

STEPHANOPOULOS: "The president announced a nuclear deal with North Korea this week. Is it a good deal?"

GOVERNOR ROMNEY: "Well, I'm hopeful that the key to the deal, which is additional inspectors by IAEA inspectors will let us determine whether or not they're cheating. Because I think the experience that we've had with North Korea is, just like the last time that President Clinton entered into an agreed framework, that the North Koreans cheat."

STEPHANOPOULOS: "But because of that history, others like John Bolton, the president's own former U.N. ambassador, say it's a bad deal. We're actually rewarding North Korea for bad behavior when we know they cheated in the past."

GOVERNOR ROMNEY: "Well, I want to see the final agreement. I want to see how the T's are crossed and the I's are dotted. I'm not going to tell you whether right now it's a good agreement, but I know what the problem is in the agreement, and that is unless the IAEA has the kind of inspections that we can be sure they're not cheating, then it would not be a step forward, and that's going to be critical."

Governor Mitt Romney On Families:

To view Governor Romney discussing his pro-family values, please see:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8558358143535499493;

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3448846850326676706

GOVERNOR ROMNEY: "At the national level, we should define marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman. And this isn't about adult rights. A lot of people get confused that gay marriage is about treating gay people the same as treating heterosexual people, and that's not the issue involved here. This is about the development and nurturing of children. Marriage is primarily an institution to help develop children. And children's development, I believe, is greatly enhanced by access to a mom and a dad. I think every child deserves a mom and a dad, and that's why I'm so consistent and vehement in my view that we should have a federal amendment which defines marriage in that way."

...

STEPHANOPOULOS: "Are you for it [gay adoption]?"

GOVERNOR ROMNEY: "And there are gay couples that are having children of their own, and, that's - obviously, that's their right. But my belief is that the idea setting for a child is where there's a mom and a dad."