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Foreign policy tops US presidential campaign issues

Turmoil in Pakistan has moved foreign policy to the forefront of the presidential campaign in the US, a potentially unwelcome development for two Republican former governors with thin credentials on world affairs.

Mike Huckabee, who spent a decade at the helm in Arkansas, and Mitt Romney, who served one term as Massachusetts governor, have faced questions over the past two days about whether they have adequate experience to lead the US during an international crisis. They are in a tight race in Iowa with caucus voting on Thursday.

"I'm in the same position Ronald Reagan was in," Romney told reporters in western Iowa on Friday.

Reagan's only political experience before becoming president was as governor of California.

Huckabee brushed aside the notion that his diplomatic resume lacks heft.

"The most important thing people need to know is that you have the judgment to deal with the issues that confront you," Huckabee told reporters on Friday. "I understand something about the way the world works."

Yet missteps have hurt Huckabee's efforts to make that case as rivals hammer him on foreign policy. He has struggled to explain his comments on the assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto and the resulting upheaval in her country.

In Orlando, Florida, on Thursday, Huckabee expressed "our sincere concern and apologies for what has happened in Pakistan." Amid criticism, his campaign said he meant to say "sympathies" not "apologies." He also referred to martial law "continuing" in Pakistan -- though the state of emergency was lifted two weeks ago.

Huckabee also linked the Pakistan situation to illegal immigration in the US, advocating "an immediate, very clear monitoring of our borders and particularly to make sure if there's any unusual activity of Pakistanis coming into the country."

He did the same on Friday in Iowa, arguing that Pakistan's instability underscores the need for the US to build a fence on its southern border to combat illegal immigration.

Afterward, he sought to explain how the issues fit together.

"I am making the observation that we have more Pakistani illegals coming across our border than all other nationalities except those immediately south of the border," he said. "And in light of what is happening in Pakistan it ought to give us pause as to why are so many illegals coming across these borders."

He told his audience that 660 Pakistanis have come into the country illegally because of insecure borders.

Pressed by reporters where he got that figure, Huckabee said: "Those are numbers that I got today from a briefing and I believe they are CIA and or immigration numbers."

He later identified the figure as coming from the Homeland Security Department.

Homeland Security figures for last year show that many more illegal immigrants came that year from India, Korea, China and Vietnam than Pakistan, which did not even make the chart.
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