Other foreign policy issues taking back seat to Iraq
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Bush and Democrat John Kerry are concentrating on Iraq and relegating other international issues to the sidelines. Their preoccupation is not lost on other world leaders. Iran is busy enriching uranium. North Korea has put off six-nation nuclear talks and may be planning missile tests. Russian President Vladimir Putin is cracking down on dissenting voices. Chinese President Hu Jintao is consolidating power. The Middle East “road map” peace process begun by Bush in 2003 seems moribund.
Some of these topics may come up on Thursday in the first presidential debate, which is to focus on foreign policy and national security. But Iraq and the broader fight against terrorism still will be the main events.
Other issues, including domestic ones championed by Democrats, have ducked for cover in a crossfire of harsh and increasingly personal attacks between the two candidates over Iraq and anti-terrorism policy.
Kerry does charge that Bush’s Iraq policies “took our attention and our resources away” from dealing with North Korea, Iran and Afghanistan. Bush does cite upcoming elections in Afghanistan and his hopes for a more democratic Middle East.
But for the most part, both the president and the Massachusetts senator dwell on Iraq and the battle against terrorism as they campaign.
As Bush and Kerry sparred over Iraq:
_North Korea put off a planned September resumption of six-nation talks on its nuclear program. The communist nation reportedly told China it wants to see who wins the U.S. election. North Korea also alarmed other countries by making possible preparations for ballistic missile tests.
_Iran defied rules set by 35 nations and announced it has started converting raw uranium into the gas needed for enrichment, a process that can be used to make nuclear weapons. While insisting its intentions are peaceful, Iran pledged to proceed even if it means a rupture with U.N. monitors and an end to inspections of its nuclear facilities.
_Putin took steps to enhance his own powers and roll back some democratic reforms, citing the need to improve security after hundreds of people died in a school seized by terrorists.
The Russian leader continues to link his government’s battles with rebels in Chechnya with the broader fight against terrorism.
_China’s Jiang Zemin gave up his post as military chief to Hu, enabling Hu to consolidate power. China continued to maintain a hard line on democracy movements in Hong Kong and Taiwan as it struggled to keep its economy from overheating.
_Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf, an important ally in the terrorism fight, indicated he might not relinquish his army uniform. The general who seized power in a 1999 coup had pledged to relinquish his separate role as army chief by year’s end.
Many of these developments have so far flown under the radar of U.S. presidential politics.
As to Russia, Bush did voice concerns about the undermining of democracy there. Neither candidate, however, is talking about worries over Russian democracy on the campaign trail.
“If I were advising John Kerry, I would take the Putin issue and ram it home,” said Ivo Daalder, a foreign policy scholar at the Brookings Institution who has advised Democratic candidates in the past. “Putin has allowed creeping authoritarianism to take place.”
North Korea and Iran appear to be thumbing their noses at the United States.
“North Korea is finding reasons to delay getting on with the next round of talks,” Secretary of State Colin Powell said. “You can speculate as well as I can the causes of that delay. Maybe they’re waiting for the United States election to be over.”
Daryl Kimball, executive director of the U.S. Arms Control Association, said the campaign has drawn the administration’s attention away from North Korea, Iran and other potential hot spots.
Also missing from the race is “how the two candidates would deal with the broader threat of weapons of mass destruction,” Kimball said.
The head of the U.N. atomic watchdog agency said last week that more than 40 countries now have the know-how to produce nuclear weapons.
If Bush and Kerry are not paying much attention to international issues beyond Iraq, the reverse cannot be claimed. Leaders around the world are closely following the U.S. election.
“I think the world watches America,” Bush said this week.
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EDITOR’S NOTE – Tom Raum has covered Washington for The Associated Press since 1973, including five presidencies.