2008 Fox News NH Republican primary debate, Jan. 6, 2008: on Foreign Policy

Fred Thompson: Keep Guantanamo open; keep embargo on Cuba

A: I was on the Intelligence Committee, and I’ve met with our CIA officers in small soundproof rooms and faraway places, talking about what was going on in that particular country. I was a Republican floor manager for the Homeland Security bill, which I like to think has helped somewhat us not have another 9/11. I was chairman of the Government Affairs Committee, which has proliferation jurisdiction, among a lot of other things. So I think it is valuable. I disagree with my friend Mike [Huckabee, on whether Bush’s foreign policy] is arrogant. Closing down Guantanamo because people will think better of us, and bringing those people here to give them rights that they don’t have there, and lifting the embargo on Castro, and things like that, I simply disagree in terms of a view of the world and the kind of world that we live in.

Mike Huckabee: As governor, visited 41 countries & met with heads of state

A: I’ve been to 41 countries. I’ve been to Iraq & Afghanistan. I’ve been to Israel nine times. I’ve been to Syria, Lebanon, Egypt. I’ve been all over Europe & Asia. I’ve sat down with the heads of state.

Q: But people see a pattern of either not knowing things or getting things wrong.

A: I don’t think it’s a pattern. When you make lots of speeches, there are going to be times when you have more of a slip. But I don’t have a slip of my judgment, or a slip of my character, or a slip of the truth. I know where I stand. I have moral clarity. I have convictions.

Rudy Giuliani: Foreign experience as mayor, at Justice Dept., & in 91 trips

A: My being of mayor of New York City encompassed a lot more than just September 11, 2001. For 8 years, I had the safety and security of millions of people on my shoulders that I had to deal with. I am the only one here who actually has had to face an Islamic terrorist attack. With regard to foreign policy, I’ve negotiated with governments when I was in the Justice Department. I worked on a task force on terrorism in the 1970s. I have also traveled 91 trips in the last six years, to 35 different countries. And I knew how to take a stand for my country. I kept Arafat & Castro out of the UN 50th celebration. And as the mayor of New York I have been involved in one way or another in just about every single foreign policy issue because it just happens to be part of the DNA of New York, that you’re involved with the policy with the UN there.