In a wide-ranging conference call with on-line journalists on October 19, Republican presidential candidate Gary Johnson answered questions about taxes, marijuana legalization, campaign finance regulations, the boycott of the Nevada caucuses by other GOP candidates, and the Occupy Wall Street movement.
A former two-term governor of New Mexico, Johnson also addressed foreign policy issues in reply to questions posed by Andrew Griffin of the Oklahoma-based Red Dirt Report and by the Charlottesville Libertarian Examiner.
Griffin asked Governor Johnson about the Obama administration’s deployment of 100 Special Forces troops as advisors in Uganda and nearby countries to help eliminate the Lord’s Resistance Army, a terrorist organization.
Uganda operation authorized by law
Johnson pointed out that this action had been authorized by Congress in a law that had been signed by the President (referring to the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009).
He said that his understanding of the LRA is that it “is the worst terrorist group on the planet over the last few decades. They have been directly responsible for tens of thousands of deaths, mutilations, [and] rapes. They are incredibly bad actors who are not based in one country [but] they maraud over several countries in Africa.”
Johnson said that, as President, he would have acted immediately after the legislation had been passed. He would have sent a strike force that could have achieved its aims quickly – eliminating the Lord’s Resistance Army.
“It’s go in, get the job done – period -- and get out,” he said.
Distinguishing characteristics
Johnson argued that the LRA problem is distinguished from other situations, such as Darfur or Libya, in that the LRA is a non-state actor that affects several countries, that the countries affected have requested assistance from the United States, and that the limited aims make a limited operation possible.
Moreover, drawing a contrast with the civil war in Libya, he said, “Congress authorized it; the President said yes.”
He concluded by explaining that he is “in the camp that doesn’t want to stand by and watch genocide go down. I’ve been asked many times, ‘What’s your example of a genocide? Don’t we ostensibly go in for those kinds of reasons and then find ourselves enmeshed in a war that never ends?'”
According to his reading of the facts on the ground, he said, this is not that kind of situation. “The only example I can think of for where this kind of action is warranted is this very action,” he declared.
Foreign policy influences
In a follow-up, the Charlottesville Libertarian Examiner asked a more general question about Gary Johnson’s views on international issues. As president, where would he get his advice on foreign policy?
“I’m not doing this in a vacuum,” he said, adding that “as president of the United States, there will be plenty of well-qualified individuals” who can serve in his administration while sharing “the notion that we can provide a strong national defense for this country and still cut military spending by 43 percent.”
Johnson mentioned that he recently participated in a conference call with foreign-policy specialists from the Cato Institute, a leading libertarian think tank.
“We talked about how do you cut the military by 43 percent and [still] provide a strong national defense for this country?” The answer, he said, is yes.
Talking to hawks
Governor Johnson said that he is not limiting his conversations about foreign policy to libertarian thinkers.
“I’m talking to the most hawkish people that exist,” he said. “I don’t necessarily agree [with them] that we need to increase spending but we seem to find common ground in the notion that we could be spending our money more wisely. They don’t find common ground in the 43 percent reduction” that Johnson has proposed but “nonetheless, all of them go along with the notion that we could be spending less money.”
Johnson said he has also “met with individuals who absolutely believe that we’re not spending enough on our military.” (That group may include rival presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who has proposed a large increase in the military budget.)
With regard to those people, however, Johnson concluded, “I just don’t buy the argument.”
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