US Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has blasted his Democratic rival President Barack Obama for allowing Egyptians to elect an Islamic president in a bid to reassert himself on foreign policy.
In a campaign rally in the state of Colorado and a series of apparently prearranged interviews on Monday with mainstream American television networks owned by largest US-based media monopolies, Romney attacked Obama for his description of recent surge of anti-Americanism in the Middle East as “bumps in the road.”
“Bumps in the road?” Romney asked during the campaign assembly in the city of Pueblo. “We had an ambassador assassinated. We had a Muslim Brotherhood elect a member, elected to the presidency of Egypt,” he added, quoted by The New York Times on Tuesday.
Romney, according to the report, also criticized Obama’s inability to shape the unrest in Syria and halt the growing anti-American sentiment in Pakistan as well as Iran’s advancements in nuclear technology.
“These are not bumps in the road,” he went on to say. “These are developments we do not want to see. This is time for a president who will shape events in the Middle East, not just be merciful or be at mercy of the events of the Middle East.”
Romney’s condemnation of Obama’s Middle East policy came a day before the US president addressed the UN General Assembly in New York, during which he again defended the publication of a derogatory and hateful film against Islam and its highly-revered prophet as a legally protected right in the US. He further repeated his administration's false accusations regarding Iran's nuclear energy program and threatened further measures against the Islamic Republic.
Meanwhile, Romney’s vice-presidential running mate Paul Ryan also attacked the Obama’s foreign policy, comparing the rising anti-American sentiments throughout the Middle East to Iran’s Islamic Revolution during which a US-installed dictator Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown from power.
“Turn on the TV and it reminds you of 1979 Tehran,” Ryan said.
Observers in the US and Middle East view Romney’s remarks as yet another instance of a persistent bullying attitude of leaders of both dominant political parties in the United States. They also challenge US claims of supporting democracies, pointing to numerous US-backed dictators in the region as well as Washington’s open rejection of democratic election of leaders across the globe that are not subservient to American interests.
MFB/JR
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