Senator Sunuwho? Sununu's Real Record on Foreign Policy

To:  Political reporters, interested parties
Fr:  Bill Lofy, Director, Stop Sununu campaign, New Hampshire Democratic Party
Da: March 5, 2008
Re: Sununu foreign policy address at Johns Hopkins conference

Senator Sunuwho? Sununu's Real Record on Foreign Policy
 

On March 6, Senator John E. Sununu will deliver an address, "Toward a Safer World: How the International Community Could Work Better to Prevent and Resolve Global Conflicts," at a conference sponsored by the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

It's instructive that Sununu is giving this speech at Johns Hopkins, the school whose former dean is former Bush Deputy Defense Secretary and architect of the mismanaged war in Iraq, Paul Wolfowitz. Sununu's steadfast support of the Bush administration's reckless approach to international affairs helped lead our country into one of the worst foreign policy crises in recent history. As a result of Sununu's willful compliance with that policy, the world is less safe, global conflicts are increasing, and the United States' standing in the international community is at an all-time low. Sununu's actions over the course of the past six years provide a case study in what NOT to do in the effort to prevent and resolve global conflicts.

Sununu is one of the most loyal supporters of the Bush war in Iraq.

Sununu repeatedly defends the Bush administration against charges that it misled the American public when making the case for the war in Iraq.

• Sununu voted against investigating pre-war intelligence failures.

Sununu supports the Bush administration's continued escalation of the war in Iraq while at the same time voting against funding for armored Humvees and body armor for our troops.

• Sununu voted 12 times against withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.  
• Sununu voted against funding for troop equipment, including two votes against hundreds of millions of dollars for armored Humvees and protective gear, even after it became clear that our troops were going into combat without proper body armor and equipment. 

Despite initially arguing that the United States could make changes in strategy without deploying more troops to Iraq, Sununu eventually capitulated to the Bush administration and supported the escalation.

• In 2007, Sununu again supported Bush, voting for the administration's troop escalation plan, even though he had argued against troop increases in Iraq for years, saying that more troops would probably mean more casualties.

Now, after years of enthusiastic support for a war that has cost nearly 4,000 American lives and billions of dollars that could have been spent on going after the real terrorist threat, Senator Sununu is poised to deliver an address talking about how to make the world safer. He is one of the least credible lawmakers in Washington to make that argument.

Sununu supports an approach to foreign policy that alienates the international community. 

Because of the reckless Bush foreign policy that Sununu has so steadfastly supported, the United States' reputation in the international community is at an historic low. In addition to his support for the war in Iraq, Sununu has consistently supported an approach to the United Nations and our international allies that promotes confrontation and antagonism instead of cooperation.  

• Sununu enthusiastically supported John Bolton's nomination to become Ambassador to the United Nations, even though Bolton once said "There is no such thing as the United Nations," and was one of the most ideological and confrontational U.N. ambassadors to ever hold the position.

Sununu consistently opposes measures to make the U.S. safer from terrorist threats. 

Though his address is titled "Toward a Safer World," Sununu would do well to start focusing first on moving toward a safer United States. Sununu has a long record of voting against funding for homeland security initiatives that would make our country safer from terrorist attacks.

• Sununu has voted 66 times against homeland security programs since 9/11.
• Sununu voted against measures to improve port security, ensure improved cargo inspections at U.S. ports, and fund first responders, including community oriented policing and firefighters.  
• Sununu even voted against the bipartisan 2007 bill to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.

Sununu should deliver his address to the people of New Hampshire 

Why isn't John E. Sununu delivering this speech in New Hampshire? Perhaps it's because Granite Staters know his real record of marching in lock step with the Bush administration. Or perhaps it's because an overwhelming majority of New Hampshire voters oppose the disastrous foreign policy he helped design. While Sununu talks to Washington insiders about his out-of-touch foreign policy, his constituents remain confused about what exactly Senator Sununu is doing in Washington, because he's certainly not representing them. Sununu's constituents in the Granite State already know how to "Work Better to Prevent and Resolve Global Conflicts" - by rejecting the Bush-Sununu foreign policy doctrine. And in November, they'll have their chance.