Romney Calls for “New Marshall Plan”
Mitt Romney will be offering up some new ideas on foreign policy. Something called a “new Marshall Plan”:
According to the prepared text of of the speech he will deliver to members of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, Romney will call for a partnership that “would assemble resources from developed nations to work to assure that threatened Islamic states had public schools, not Wahhabi madrassas, micro-credit and banking, the rule of law, human rights, basic healthcare, and competitive economic policies.”
The Republican presidential candidate will also call for a “Special Partnership Force,” made up of personnel from the Army’s special forces and the intelligence community.
“Their goal is to build national institutions of stability and freedom, and to promote the rule of law and human rights,” Romney will say.
The Politico’s Mike Allen posted this excerpt from tonight’s speech:
America’s capacities to deal with other nations tend to fall into two broad categories. In stable countries, we operate through diplomatic means in national capitols. In conflict countries, we apply the full might of the US military. But today, many of the most critical areas in the battle against Jihadism are in neither stable nor conflict settings. … I believe America must establish a Special Partnership Force, comprised or Army Special Forces personnel and Intelligence personnel. This force would work hand-in-glove with local host governments. Together, in partnership, they would seek to target and separate terrorists from the local population, and to disrupt and defeat them. They would have the authority to call in all elements of civil assistance and humanitarian aid. And, where they felt it was necessary, they could call in delta and SEAL resources. … Their goal is to build national institutions of stability and freedom, and to promote the rule of law and human rights. … The Special Partnership Force must be driven by Intel, highly integrated with all our sources of power and with those of other nations, coordinated with the host country and in full partnership with it, and agile. It is critical that this not be another one-off, ad hoc capability—it must be a sustainable capacity that is a fixture of our war against violent Jihadism.
The Special Partnership Force sounds like Thomas Barnett’s sysadmin force. Romney has been reading The Pentagon’s New Map and Blueprint for the Future.
“Romney to Call for ‘New Course’ in War on Terror” [via Hot Air]
At 1st glance, this is quite similar to former Sen. Edwards’ plan that drew a chorus of boos on this blog.