John McCain has a strong foreign policy– he is an idealist without being a dreamer. He believes that it is possible to make the world a better and more peaceful place, yet he understands how to acquire peace and prosperity and knows that it will not be easy. He is, as he said, a “realistic idealist,” and from all his experience, he can be trusted to make just and practical decisions that are beneficial to our country. Today, where different kinds of power are distributed throughout the world, the United States can no longer lead solely by the virtue of its power as it has done in the past. Now we need a new way to lead. John McCain believes that we not only need to be strong politically, economically, and militarily, but we need to influence the rest of the world by re-establishing the fundamentals of our democracy. McCain believes that in doing this, the United States will fulfill its responsibilities as a powerful nation.
John McCain believes that American troops must remain in Iraq and support its government’s establishment of a democracy. He is right to be against those who believe that the United States should withdraw its troops before a solid democracy in Iraq is formed, because it would simply be morally irresponsible. John McCain, unlike Barack Obama, understands why we cannot pull out of Iraq. If we leave Iraq before the fall of Al Qaeda and before a legitimate Iraqi security force is established, the whole country could fall into chaos. McCain candidly states the situation: “When Iraqi forces can safeguard their own country, American troops can return home.” Now the question is: how do we get Iraqi forces to safeguard their own country? John McCain has the answer. Being a leading advocate of the strategies carried out by General David Petraeus, McCain fully supports the counterinsurgency strategy, the quickest and most effective way of constructing a stable Iraq.