Romney or Obama, drone attacks won’t cease !

White House hopeful Mitt Romney on Tuesday said he would maintain drone strikes in Pakistan if he defeated President Barack Obama and would impose conditions on aid to the nuclear-armed nation.
At the two men’s final debate before November 6 elections, Romney largely embraced Obama’s positions on Pakistan and in a departure from his frequent criticism, said he did not blame Obama for troubled ties between the nations.
Romney voiced concern about the Haqqani network, a militant group in Afghanistan that US officials have linked to Pakistan, and worried over the power of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence.
“It’s a nation that’s not like others and it does not have a civilian leadership that is calling the shots there,” Romney said. Asked by moderator Bob Schieffer if the United States should “divorce” Pakistan, Romney supported continued ties but in line with legislation approved by Congress, called for more conditions on US assistance.
“No, it’s not time to divorce a nation on Earth that has 100 nuclear weapons and is on the way to double that at some point, a nation that has serious threats from terrorist groups within its nation,” Romney remarked.
Romney said they had to stay involved with Pakistan for a basic reason: “They have nuclear weapons. We don’t want them to fall into the hands of terrorists. We’re going to have to work with the people of Pakistan.”
He said what happened in Pakistan would have a major impact on the success in Afghanistan, adding that Pakistan’s role was very important for stability in Afghanistan. Although both men spoke at length of the dangers of Iran going nuclear, the turmoil in Libya and Syria, and contentious issues with China, it was Pakistan and its combustible mix of nuclear weapons and home-grown terrorism, and its fallout on Afghanistan, the US withdrawal from there and on the neighbourhood, that seemed to worry them most.
There was clearly no love for Pakistan – just concern, distrust, and a vague sense of bringing about a course-correction in the country that Romney spoke about.
President Obama set the tone when he bragged about killing bin Laden and mocked Romney for saying in 2008 that the US should ask Pakistan for permission to hunt him. President Barack Obama said the US would have never killed al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden if he had to seek permission from Pakistan, indicating the sheer lack of trust he had with the Pakistani leadership. Obama said he had delivered what he had promised on al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. Romney too said at one point that Pakistan had been anything but an ally. Although Romney said he was against “divorcing” Pakistan and was for “rebuilding” the relationship, he minced no words in support of Obama’s policy on drones.
“I believe we should use any and all means necessary to take out people who pose a threat to us and our friends around the world. I support that entirely and feel the president was right to up the usage of that technology and believe that we should continue to use it,” he said.