Game. Where do you spend your tv money, where do you pull back, it is crunch time. The reason all of this is because it is a divided nation. You saw the most recent poll which is ironically 47 for each candidate. Wolf blitzer. Will be interested to see if either of these two candidates has any factual errors. Im going to be listening very, very closely. Some of these Foreign Policy issues are very nuanced, very complex and one misstatement could cause some international ramifications. Going to be listening very carefully. Bob schieffer is already seated at the table. Within a few second he will introduce both of these candidates. They will come in. Hell read the rules, the ground rules that were so carefully negotiated between these two campaigns, and the president ial debate commission. Everything, everything, has been negotiated. Heres Bob Schieffer. Good evening from the campus of Lynn University here in boca raton, florida. This is the fourth, and last, debate of the 2012 campaign brought to you by the commission on president ial debates. This ones on Foreign Policy. Im Bob Schieffer of cbs news. The question are mine and i have not shared them with the candidates or their aides. The audience has taken a vow of silence, no applause, no reaction of any kind, except right now when we welcome president barack obama and governor mitt romney. Gentlemen, your campaigns have agreed to certain rules and they are simple. Theyve asked me to divide the evening into segments. Ill pose a question at the beginning of each segment. You will each have two minutes to respond, and then we will have a general discussion until we move to the next segment. Tonights debate, as both of you know, comes on the 50th anniversary of the night that president kennedy told the world that the soviet union had installed Nuclear Missiles in cuba. Perhaps the closest weve ever come to nuclear war. And it is a sobering reminder that every president faces at some point an unexpected threat to our National Security from abroad. So lets begin. The first segment is the challenge of a changing middle east and the new face of terrorism. Im going to put this into two segments so youll have two topic questions within this one segment on the subject. The first question and it concerns libya, the controversy over what happened there continues. Four americans are dead, including an american ambassador. Questions remain of what happened, what caused it. Was it spontaneous. Was it an intelligence failure. Was it a policy failure. Was there an attempt to mislead people about what really happened. Governor romney, you said this was an example of an american policy in the middle east that is unraveling before our very eyes. Id like to hear each of you give your thoughts on that. Governor romney, you won the toss, you go first. Thank you, bob. And thank you for agreeing to moderate this debate this evening. Thank you to Lynn University for welcoming us here and mr. President , it is good to be with you again. We were together at a humorous event a little bit earlier. It is nice to maybe be funny this time, not on purpose. Well see what happens. This is obviously an area of great concern to the entire world and to america in particular which is to see a complete change in the structure and the environment in the middle east. With the arab spring came a great deal of hope that there would be a change towards more moderation and opportunity for greater participation on the part of women and in public life and in the Economic Life in the middle east. But instead weve seen in nation after nation a number of disturbing events. Of course we see in syria, 30,000 civilians having been killed by the military there. We see in libya an attack apparently by i think we know now by terrorists of some kind against our people there, four people dead. Our hearts and minds go to them. Mali has been taken over, the northern part of mali, by al qaedatype individuals. We have in egypt a Muslim Brotherhood president. What were seeing is a pretty dramatic reversal in the kind of hopes we had for that region. Of course the greatest threat of all is iran, four years closer to a Nuclear Weapon. Were going to have to recognize that we have to do as the president s done. I congratulate him on taking out Osama Bin Laden and going after the leadership in al qaeda. But we cant kill our way out of this mess. Were going to have to put in place a very comprehensive and robust strategy to help the world of islam and other parts of the world reject this radical violent extremism which is certainly not on the run. It is certainly not hiding. This is a group that is now involved in 10 or 12 countries and it presents an enormous threat to our friends, to the world, to america, long term, and we must have a comprehensive strategy to help reject this kind of extremism. Mr. President. Well, my first job as commander in chief, bob, is to keep the American People safe. And thats what weve done over the last four years. We ended the war in iraq. Refocused our attention on those who actually killed us on 9 11. And as a consequence, al qaedas core leadership has been decimated. In addition, were now able to transition out of afghanistan in a responsible way, making sure that afghans take responsibility for their own security. And that allows us also to rebuild alliances and make friends around the world to combat future threats. Now, with respect to libya, as i indicated in the last debate, when we received that phone call, i immediately made sure that number one, we did everything we could to secure those americans who were still in harms way. Number two, that we would investigate exactly what happened. And number three, most importantly, that we would go after those who killed americans an we would bring them to justice. Thats exactly what were going to do. But i think it is important to step back and think about what happened in libya. Keep in mind that i and americans took leadership in organizing an International Coalition that made sure that we were able to, without putting troops on the ground, at the cost of less than what we spent in two weeks in iraq, liberate a country that had been under the yoke of dictatorship for 40 years. Got rid of a despot who had killed americans, and as a consequence, despite this tragedy, you had tens of thousands of live yans aftbyans events in benghazi marching and saying america is our friend, we stand with them. Now that represents the opportunity we have to take advantage of. And governor romney, im glad that you agree that we have been successful in going after al qaeda. But i have to tell you that, your strategy previously has been one that has been all over the map. And is not designed to keep americans safe or to bill on the opportunities that exist in the middle east. Well, my strategy is pretty straightforward, to go after the bad guys, do our best to interrupt them, kill them, to take them out of the picture. But my strategy is broader than that. Thats important, of course. But the key that were going to have to pursue is a pathway to get the muslim world to be able to reject extremism on its own. We dont want another iraq. We dont want another afghanistan. Thats not the right course for us. The right course for us is to make sure we go after the people who are leaders of these various antiamerican groups and these jihadists, but also help the muslim world. How do we do that . The group of arab scholars came together, organized by the u. N. , to look at how we can help the world reject these terrorists. The answer they came up with is this. One more economic development. We should key our foreign aid, our direct Foreign Investment and that of our friends, we should coordinate it to make sure that we push back and give them more economic development. Number two, better education. Number three, gender equality. Number four, the rule of law. We have to help these nations create civil societies. But whats been happening over the last couple of years is as weve watched this timult in the middle east, this riled tide of chaos, you see al qaeda rushing in, other jihadist groups rushing in and theyre throughout many nations in the middle east. It is wonderful that libya seems to be making some progress despite this terrible tragedy. Next door we egypt, 80 million population. We want to make sure that were seeing progress throughout the middle east with mali now having north mali taken over by al qaeda, with syria having assad continuing to kill murder his own people. This is a region in tumult. Iran on the path to a Nuclear Weapon well get to that. Lets give the president a chance. Governor romney, im glad that you recognize that al qaeda is a threat. Because a few months ago when you were asked whats the biggest geopolitical threat facing america, you said russia. Not al qaeda. You said russia. In the 1980s are now calling to ask for their Foreign Policy back because the cold wars been over for 20 years. But governor, when it comes to our Foreign Policy, you seem to want to import the foreign policies of the 1980s, just like the social policies of the 1950s, and the economic policies of the 1920s. You say that youre not interested in duplicating what happened. In iraq. But just a few weeks ago you said you think we should have more troops in iraq right now. And the challenge we have i know you havent been in a position to actually execute Foreign Policy, but every time youve offered an opinion, youve been wrong. You said we should have gone into iraq despite the fact that there were no weapons of mass destruction. You said that we should still have troops in iraq to this day. You indicated that we shouldnt be passing Nuclear Treaties with russia despite the fact that 71 senators, democrats and republicans, voted for it. Youve said that first we should not have a timeline in afghanistan, then you said we should. Now you say maybe, or depends, which means not only were you wrong, but you were also confusing and sending mixed messages to both our troops and our allies. So what we need to do with respect to the middle east is strong, steady leadership, not wrong and reckless leadership that is all over the map. And, unfortunately, thats the kind of opinions that youve offered throughout this campaign, and it is not a recipe for american strength or keeping america safe over the im going to add a couple of minutes here to give you a chance to respond. Well, of course, i dont concur with what the president said about my own record and the things that ive said. They dont happen to be accurate. But i can say this. That were talking about the middle east and how to help the middle east reject the kind of terrorism were seeing and the rising tide of tumult and confusion and attacking me is not an agenda. Attacking me is not talking about how were going to deal with the challenges that exist in the middle east and take advantage of the opportunity there and stem the tide of this violence. But ill respond to a couple things you mentioned. First of all, russia i indicated is a geopolitical foe. Not excuse me. It is a geopolitical foe. I said in the same paragraph, i said, and iran is the greatest National Security threat we face. Russia does continue to battle us in the u. N. , time and time again. I have clear eyes on this. Im not going to wear rose colored glass wes when it comeso russia or mr. Putin. With regards to iraq, you and i agreed that there should have about ban status of forces agreement. Thats not true. You didnt want a status of forces agreement . No. What i would not have done is left 10,000 troops in iraq that would tie us down. That certainly would not help us in the middle east. Im sorry, you actually there was an effort on the part of the president to have a status of forces agreement and i concurred in that and said that we should have some number of troops that stayed on. That was something i concurred with. That was your posture, that was my posture as well. Governor, this is just a few weeks ago that you indicated that we should still have troops in iraq. Sorry, thats not you indicated that in a major speech. I indicated that you failed to put in place a status of forces agreement at the end of the conflict governor, heres one thing ive learned as commander in chief. Youve got to be clear. Both to our allies and our enemies about where you stand and what you mean. You just gave a speech a few weeks ago in which you said we should still have troops in iraq. That is not a recipe for making sure that we are taking advantage of the opportunities and meeting the challenges in the middle east. Now, it is absolutely true that we cannot just meet these challenges militarily. And so what ive done throughout my presidency and will continue to do is number one, make sure that these countries are supporting our counterterrorism efforts. Number two, make sure that they are standing by our interests in israels security because it is a true friend and our greatest ally in the region. Number three, we do have to make sure that were protecting religious minorities an women because these countries cant develop unless all the population not just half of it is developing. Number four, we do have to develop their economic capabilities. Number five the other thing that we have to do is recognize that we cant continue to do nation building in these regions. Part of American Leadership is making sure that were doing nation building here at home. That will help us maintain the kind of American Leadership that we need. Let me interject the second topic question in this segment about the middle east and so on. And that is, you both mentioned alluded to this, and that is syria. War in syria has now spilled over into lebanon. We have more than 100 people that were killed there in a bomb. There were demonstrations. There are eight people dead. Mr. President , its been more than a year since you told assad he had to go. Since then 30,000 syrians have died. Weve had 300,000 refugees. The war goes on. Hes still there. Should we reassess our policy and see if we can find a better way to influence events there, or is that even possible . You go first, sir. What weve done is organize the International Community saying assad has to go. Weve mobilized sanctions against that government. We have made sure that they are isolated. We have provided humanitarian assistance and we are helping the opposition organize. Were particularly interested in making sure were mobilizing the moderate forces inside of syria. But ultimately, syrians are going to have to determine their own future. So everything were doing were doing in consultation with our partners in the region including israel which obviously has a huge interest in seeing what happens in syria, coordinating with turkey and other countries in the region that have a great interest in this. Now, what were seeing taking place in syria is heartbreaking. And thats why we are going to do everything we can to make sure that we are helping the opposition. But, we also have to recognize that for us to get more entangled militarily in syria is a serious step. And we have to do so making absolutely certain that we know who we are helping, that were not putting arms in the hands of folks who eventually could turn them against us or our allies in the region. And i am confident that assads days are numbered. But what we cant do is to simply suggest that, as governor romney at times has suggested, that giving lev weapons, for example, to the Syrian Opposition is a simple proposition that would lead us to be safer over the long term. Governor . Well, lets talk about whats happening in syria and how important it is. First of all, 30,000 people being killed by their government is a humanitarian disaster. Secondly, syria is an opportunity for us, because syria plays an Important Role in the middle east, particularly right now. Syria is irans only ally in the arab world. Its their route to the sea. Its the route for them to arm hezbollah in lebanon which threatens of course our ally, israel. And so seeing syria remove assad is a very high priority for us. Number two, seeing a replacement government being responsible people is critical for us. And finally, we dont want to have military involvement there. We dont want to get drawn in to a military conflict. So the right course for us is working through our partners and with our own resources to identify responsible parties within syria, organize them, bring them together in a form of if not government, a form of council that can take the lead in syria and then make sure they have the arms necessary to defend themselves. We do need to make sure that they dont have arms that get into the wrong hands. Those arms could be used to hurt us down the road. We need to make sure as well that we coordinate this effort with our allies, and particularly with israel. But the saudis and the turks and qataris are all very willing to work with us. We need a very effective leadership in syria making sure that the insurgents there are armed and that the insurgents that become armed are people who will be the responsible parties. Recognize, i believe that assad must go. I believe he will go. But i believe we want to make sure that we have the relationships, a friendship with the people that take his place such that in the years to come we see syria as a friend and syria as a responsible party in the middle east. This is a critical opportunity for america and what im afraid of is that weve watched over the past year or so, first the president saying well let the u. N. Deal with it and assad excuse me, kofi annan came in and said well have a ceasefire. That didnt work. Then looked to the russians saying see if you can do something. We should be playing the leadership role there, not on the ground with military. We are playing a leadership role. We organize the friends of syria. We are mobilizing humanitarian support and support for the opposition. And we are making sure that those we help are those who will be friends of ours in the long term and friends of our allies in the region over the long term. But going back to libya there is an example of how we make choices. When we went in to libya, and we were able to immediately stop the massacre there, because of the unique circumstances and the coalition that we had thoepd organi helped to organize, we had to mak