The eight major Republican candidates for president joined in a united attack against President Obama as commander in chief during a debate here Saturday, but at times differed sharply
over how to block Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the way forward in Pakistan.
The debate, held here by CBS News and The National Journal, was the first to focus exclusively on foreign policy, and the candidates seemed more focused on presenting themselves as plausible commanders in chief than on knocking one another off-balance.
His fortunes rising in polls, former Speaker Newt Gingrich declined an invitation to repeat his Friday critique of the presumed Republican front-runner Mitt Romney as insufficient to the task of changing Washington, saying sternly, “We’re here tonight to talk to the American people about why every single one of us is better than Barack Obama.”
As they warily circled one another on the less familiar ground of foreign policy, the candidates offered some provocative suggestions: Gov. Rick Perry of Texas proposed wiping out standing foreign aid commitments to all nations — including Israel — and making them meet American conditions before receiving a penny; former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania suggested supporting Israel in a military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities; and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts repeated his assertion that China should lose access to American markets if it will not play by trade rules.
And the candidates laid bare their continuing internal debate about the use of American force and the approach to national security in the post-Bush era, with the most heated discussion on waterboarding and harsh interrogation techniques more generally.
Asked whether they would reinstate waterboarding as a method of interrogation for suspected terrorists, Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Herman Cain saying they would, and former Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr. of Utah and Representative Ron Paul of Texas declaring it torture.
“We diminish our standing in the world and the values that we project, which include liberty, democracy, human rights and open markets, when we torture,” Mr. Huntsman said. “We should not torture. Waterboarding is torture.”
Defending the practice, which President Obama has discontinued, Mrs. Bachmann said: “If I were president I would be willing to use waterboarding. I think it was very effective,” adding, “It is as though we’ve decided we want to lose in the war on terror under President Obama.”
If the debate at times seemed to test the candidates on what has been less familiar ground this campaign season, there were no major gaffes. Mr. Perry successfully made light of his brain freeze on Wednesday, though he had help from the CBS moderator Scott Pelley.
When Mr. Pelley began asking how nuclear weapons would be monitored without an Energy Department, Mr. Perry, smiling broadly, cut in with a joke: “I’m glad you remembered it.”
“I’ve had some time to think about it, sir,” Mr. Pelley said, to which Mr. Perry shot back, “Me too.”
Upon saying that he would start every nation’s foreign aid account at zero dollars, even aid to Israel, he quickly added that he was sure that Israel would qualify for ample aid (perhaps mindful of that nation’s special status among many Republican voters, his campaign sent out a statement during the debate reiterating that point).
If one candidate seemed particularly on unfamiliar ground it was Mr. Cain, who was not his usual affable self, speaking more deliberately and tentatively in a debate that did not give him a single opportunity to promote his signature “9-9-9” flat tax plan.
Recently Mr. Cain had mistakenly asserted that China was on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons, though it has had them since 1964. On Saturday he made a point to mention that Pakistan “is one of the nine nations that has a nuclear weapon.”
Mr. Cain said he did not know whether Pakistan was a friend or an enemy, a determination that all the candidates agreed complicated the approach to seeking terrorists and deciding on foreign aid.
Mrs. Bachmann and Mr. Santorum argued that Pakistan should continue to receive foreign aid because of its nuclear arsenal. “We can’t be indecisive about whether Pakistan is our friend,” Mr. Santorum said. “They must be our friend.”
When it came to perhaps the most urgent emerging threat, Iran’s nuclear program — and a new United Nations report that it was making progress toward building a weapon — the three candidates now leading in polls again differed.
Mr. Cain said he would focus on using economic sanctions and aid to the Iranian opposition to pressure the Iranian government. “The only way we can stop them is through economic means,” he said, adding that he did not believe that the United States should take military action to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear device.
While Mitt Romney agreed with Mr. Cain about the need for economic sanctions and aiding Iranian opponents of the regime in Tehran, he also said that if nothing else worked, he would use the military.
Mr. Gingrich seemed to agree. On the other hand, Mr. Paul was sharply critical of the idea. “I’m afraid what’s going on right now is similar to the war propaganda that went on against Iraq,” he said.
But Mr. Romney kept the onus on Mr. Obama. “Look, one thing you can know,” he said, “and that is if we re-elect Barack Obama, Iran will have a nuclear weapon.”