Michael J. Mishak

Sat, Nov 17, 2007 (7:20 a.m.)

Excerpts from Friday's Brookings Institution foreign policy forum will appear in the Sun on Sunday. The discussion will be rebroadcast on Channel 8 at 7 p.m.

Voters looking for substance after the flash of Thursday's Democratic presidential debate found it at UNLV on Friday, where experts from past Republican and Democratic administrations said the next president's biggest challenge will be to restore U.S. credibility around the globe.

The winner next November will take office with a significant advantage, the four former officials said: The new president won't be President Bush.

Still, the new face in the White House will have a difficult time changing the perception of the United States as a bully, panelists said.

The comments came during a forum on foreign policy hosted by the Brookings Institution, a respected Washington think tank, in partnership with ABC news. The Sun co-sponsored the event. Sun Editor Brian Greenspun is a Brookings trustee.

An overriding theme Friday was the need for more diplomacy, something, the panel noted, the Bush administration is only now recognizing.

"After 9/11 there was this hubris, with President Bush saying, 'It's my way or the highway,' " said Martin Indyk, former U.S. ambassador to Israel and assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs in the Clinton administration. "That didn't work. Our reputation has suffered, and it has now become important for America to work with the world. There needs to be strength but also humility."

Carlos Pascual, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and most recently a lead adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, outlined an aggressive agenda: Close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, stop what the administration refers to as "aggressive interrogation techniques," abide by the Geneva Conventions and adopt tough global warming standards.

Zoe Baird, former associate counsel to President Carter, took exception to a moment in Thursday's debate when CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer pressed the candidates to say whether they considered human rights or national security more important.

"It is not human rights or national security," Baird said. "It is America's moral competitive edge. It's our values. This is a foolish, polarizing conversation. They don't fight each other. They are completely complementary."

In addition to general comments, the participants focused on four geopolitical hot spots:

Iran: Panel members largely dismissed criticism of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton for supporting a recent Senate measure that declared the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist group. Critics, including other Democratic presidential contenders, say the measure helps lay the groundwork for war with Iran.

Panelists, however, acknowledged that Americans are wary of Iran because they view that nation through the spectrum of the unpopular war in Iraq. Indyk said the difference between the run-up to the war in Iraq and the administration's tough rhetoric on Iran was "day and night." Still, the public's distrust of government has crippled discussion of the issue, panelists said.

Peter Rodman, a former assistant secretary of defense under President George W. Bush, said he supports the economic sanctions on Iran for its nuclear activities, but added, "Imposing economic penalties and designating them on a State Department list is the least we should be doing to these bastards." Rodman, however, said he was not a fan of taking military action.

Indyk said the war rhetoric could bring Iran to the negotiating table.

Iraq: While American military strategy is bringing some stability to Iraq, the increased troop presence is not sustainable, Rodman said.

Indyk said political reconciliation in Iraq will take a decade. He advocated withdrawing troops soon. "We should declare victory on this front," he said. "It's up to Iraqis to solve their own problem."

Still, Rodman has argued, failure in Iraq, as defined by the absence of a stable Iraqi government, would complicate America's dealings with Iran.

Pakistan: Pascual called Pakistan "perhaps the most dangerous country in the world" because of its nuclear arsenal and unstable government. He warned that if authoritarian rule continues, Islamic extremism will foment.

"We are not going to come up with a solution for this," he said. The United States, Pascual said, should try to help all sides resolve their differences.

Russia: Perhaps the need for U.S. diplomacy is most evident in Russia, which the panel addressed last.

Rodman supported a dialogue with Russia, whose president, Vladimir Putin, has taken anti-democratic steps.

Indyk said America's plans to build a ballistic missile defense program in Eastern Europe sent the wrong message to an important partner.

Indeed, on Friday, Putin called for Russia's temporary withdrawal from a key European arms control treaty.

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