Voters realized he was not the mitt romney the democrats were portraying creating this sense or movement or the swing in the polls that although president obama had a much better debate in the second debate than the first one, that didnt move polls back. Theres a sense of romney momentum, and thats something the president has to stop, especially in the last couple weeks. Neil well watch closely. After all the handlers are there, sometimes getting there 1520 minutes before the debate is done. This is it, final exchange of the candidates of 2012. Wrapping up then three president ial debates, the Vice President ial debate, and at times they are very consequential, moving the needle, both try to do so tonight. Heres bob shieffer. Moderator this is the fourth and last debate of the 2012 campaign brought to you by the commission of president ial donts. This is on Foreign Policy. Im bob schieffer. The questions are mine, and i have not shared them with the candidates or their aids. The audience took a vow of silence, no applause or action of any kind other than right now when we welcome president barack obama and governor mitt romney. [cheers and applause] [applause] moderator gentlemen, your campaigns agreed to certain rules, and they are simple asking me to divide the evening into segments. Ill pose a question at the beginning of each segment. You 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 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 up expected threat to our National Security from abroad. 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 theres two topic questions within the one segment on the subject. The first question, and it concerns libya, the controversy over what happened there continues, four americans dead, including an american ambassador. Questions remain 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 happened. Governor romney, you said it 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. Romney thank you, bob, thank you for moderating tonight. Thank you to Lynn University for having us here. Mr. President , great to be with you here again. We were at a a humorous event before, and it would be nice to be funny here tonight, but well see what happens. Well see a complete change in the structure and the environment of the middle east. With the arab spring, came a great deal of hope there would be a change towards more moderation, an opportunity for greater participation on the part of women and public life, and in the Economic Life in the middle east, but instead weve seen in nation after nation, a number of disturbing events. In syria, 0,000 civilians 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 mind go to them. The northern part of mali taken over. We have an egypt, a Muslim Brotherhood president , and so what we are seeing is a dramatic reversal for hopes we had in the region, and the greatest threat of all is iron, four years iran, four years closer to a nuclear weapon. I congratulate the president on taking out bin laden and going off the leadership in alqaeda. We cant kill our way out of the mess. We have to put in place a robust strategy to help the world of islam and other parts of the world reject the violence extremism which is not on the run. Its certainly not hiding. This is a group that is now involved in ten or 12 countries presenting an enormous threat to our friends, to the world, to america long term, and we must have a comprehensive strategy to help reject this extremism. Moderator mr. President . Obama my first job of commanderinchief, bob, is to keep the American People safe. Weve done that over four years. We ended the war in iraq, refocused intention on those who actually killed us on 9 11, and as a consequence, al chi alqaedas core leadership is decimated. We are now able to transition out of afghanistan in a responsible way ensuring 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, ww did everything we could to secure those americans who were still in harms way. Number two, that we would investigate what happened, and number three, most importantly, that we would go after those who killed americans, and we would bring them to justice, and thats exactly what were going to do. Its 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 of what we spent in two weeks in iraq, liberate a country under the yolk of dictatorship for 40 years, got rid of a december pit who killed americans, and as a consequence, december despite the tragedy, you had tens of thousands of those marching in libya saying americas our friend. We stand with them. That represents the opportunity we have to take advantage of. Governor romney, im glad you agreed were successful in going after alqaeda, but i have to tell you that, you know, your strategy, previously, has been one thats all over the map, and its not designed to keep americans safe or to build on the opportunities that exist in the middle east. Romney its straightforward which is to go after the bad guys, do our best to interrupt them, to 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 thh right course for us, but to make sure we go after the people who are leaders of the various antiamerican groups and these jihadists, but also help the muslim world. How do we do that . A group of arab scholars came together, organized by the u. N. , to look at how we can help the world reject terrorists, and the answer they came up with was this. Keep foreign aid, direct investment, and that of our friends, coordinate to push back and give them economic development. Number two, better education. Number three, gender equality. Number four, the rule of law. We have to help nations create civil societies, but whats happening over the last couple of years is as weve watched this tumult in the middle east, a rising tide of chaos occur, you see alqaeda rushing in, other jihadist groups rushing in, and there throughout many nations in the middle east. Its wonderful libya is making some progress, despite the terrible tragedy, but next door, of course, theres egypt, libyas 6 million population, egypts 80 million population. We want to see progress throughout the middle east with north mali taken over now by alqaeda, and syria having assad continuing to murder his own people. This is a region in tumult and iran on the path of Nuclear Weapons. Moderator lets give president obama a chance. Obama im glad you said that because you said the biggest threat was russia. They are asking for the Foreign Policy back because the cold wars been over for 20 years, but, governor, when it comes to the Foreign Policy, you seem to want to import the foreign policies of the 198 0s just like the social policies of 1950s, and the economic policies of the 1920s. You say that youre not interested in duplicating what happened in iraq, but a few weeks ago, you said we think we should have more troops in iraq right now, and that the challenge we have i know you have not been in a position to actually execute Foreign Policy, but every time you offer an opinion, youve been wrong saying we should have gone into iraq, despite the fact theres 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. You said that first we should not have a time line in afghanistan, then you said we should, then maybe, then depends. O not only were you wrong, but confusing sending mixed messages to the troops and our allies. What we have to do with respect to the middle east is strong steady leadership, not wrong and wreckless leadership all over the map. Unfortunately, thats the opinions youve offered throughout the campaign, and it is not a recipe for more american strength. Moderator ill give you a chance to respond. Romney i dont concur what the president said about my record and what i said. They dont happen to be accurate, but i can say this. We are 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 confusing. Attacking me is not agenda or talking about how to deal with the challenges that happen in the middle east and take advantage of the opportunity there and stem the tide of the violence. Ill respond to a couple things you mentioned. First of all, russia indicated is a geopolitical foe, not a geopolitical foe, 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. I dont have rose colored glasses with russia or mr. Putin and say to him ill give you more flexibility after the election and more backbone. Number two, with regards to iraq, we agreed there should have been a status of forces agreement. Obama thats not true. What i would not have done is left 10,000 troops in iraq to tie us down. That would not help us in the middle east. Romney im sorry. There was an effort on the part of the president to have a status of forces agreement, and i concurred in that said we should have a number of troops that stayed on. That was something i concurred with. That was your posture and mine as well. You thought it should have been 5,000 troops, and i thought it should have been more. Obama this was a few weeks ago you indicated we should have troops in iraq. Romney i indicated that you failed to put in place a status of forces agreement at the end of the conflict that existed. Obama heres one thing id learned as commander in chief. You got to be clear, boacht 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 have troops in iraq. That is not a recipe for making sure that we are taking advantage of the opportunities and meeting the challenge of the middle east. Now, it is absolutely true that we cannot just meet the challenges militarily, and so what ive done throughout my presidency and will continue to do is, number one, make sure 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 were protecting religious minorities and women because these countries cant develop unless all the population, not just half of it, is developing. Four, we have to develop their economic their economic capabilities, but number five, the other thing we have to do is recognize that we cant continue to do nation building in these regions. Part of American Leadership is making sure we do in addition building here at home. That will help us maintain the kind of American Leadership we need. Moderator let me interject the second topic question in this segment about the middle east and so on, and that is you both mentioned eluded to this, and that is syria. A war in syria spilled over to lebanon, more than a hundred People Killed there in a bomb, demonstrations there, eight people dead. Mr. President , its been more than a year since you told assad he had to go. Since then, 30,000 people in syria have died, 3,000 refugees, 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 it even possible. You go first, sir. Obama 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, and were particularly interested in ensuring we are mobilizing the moderate forces inside of syria, but ultimately, syria has to determine their own future. Everything were doing, were doing in consultation with the partners in the region like israel which has a huge interest in seeing what what happens in a coordinating with turkey and others in the region with a great interest in this. Now, what we see taking place in syria is heart breaking which is why well do everything we can to make sure we help the opposition, but we also have to recognize that, you know, for us to get more entangled militarily in syria is a serious step, and we have to do so making absolutely certain we know who we are helping, that were not putting arms in the hands of folks who eventually could turn them against us our allies in the region, and i am confident that assads days are numbered, but what we cant do is to simply suggest as governor romney at times suggested, that giving heavy weapons, for example, to the syria opposition is a simple proposition that leads us to be safer over the long term. Moderator governor . Romney lets step back and talk about whats happening in syria and how important it is. First of all, 30,000 People Killed by their government is a humanitarian disaster. Syrias an opportunity for us because syria plays an Important Role in the middle east, particularly now. Syria is irans only ally in the world, its their route to the sea, the route to arm hezbollah in lebanon that threatens, of course, our ally israel. Seeing syria remove assad is a very high priority for us. Seeing a replacement government being responsible people is critical for us, and, finally, we dont want military involvement there. We dont want to be drawn into a military conflict. The right course is working through our partners, 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 it necessary to defend themselves. We need to make sure they dont get arms in the wrong hands to harm us down the road. We have to coordinate this with our allies, particularly israel. But the saudis and turks and qataris are concerned about this. We need effective leadership effort in syria ensuring the insurgents there are armed, and those who are armed are people who will be the responsible parties. Recognize i believe that assad must go, he will go, but i believe we want to make sure we have the relationships of 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 we watched over the past year or so, first, the president saying, well, let the u. N. Deal with it, and anon said well try for a cease fire. That didnt work. Looked to the russians, see if you can do something. We have to play the leadership role there, not on the ground with military. By the leadership role. Moderator all right. Obama we organized the friends of sere yew. We are syria. We are mobilizing syria support and support for the opposition making sure 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, you know, going back to lib ya, because its an libya because its an example of how we make choices. You know, when we went into libya, and we were able to immediately stop the massacre there because of the unique circumstances and the coalition that he we helped to organize, we had to insure gadhafi didnt stay there. To the governors credit, you supported going into libya and the coalition we organized, but when it came time to making sure that gadhafi did not stay in power, that he was captured, governor, your suggestion was that this was Mission Creed and muddle. Imagine if we pulled out at that point. Now, gadhafi had more american blood on his hands than any other individual other than bin laden. We were making sure we would finish the job. Thats why the libyans stand with us. We did so in a careful, thoughtful way making certain that we knew who we were dealing with, that those forces of moderation on the ground were ones that we could work with, and we have to take the same kind of steady, thoughtful leadership when it comes to syria. Thats what we are doing. Moderator governor, would you go beyond what the administration would do, like, for example, would you put in nofly zones over syria . Romney i dont want to have our military involved in syria. Theres not a necessity to put our military in syria at this stage, and i dont anticipate that in the future. As i indicated, our objectives are to replace assad, put in a new government friendly to us, and make sure they have the arms necessary to defend themselves, but also to remove assad, but i do not want to see a military involvement on the part of our troops, and this isnt going to be necessary. We have with our partners in the region, we have sufficient resources to support those groups, but, look, this has been going on for a year. This should have been a time for American Leadership. We should have taken a leading role, not militarily, but a leading role, organizationally, fundamentally, find responsible parties. As you hear from intelligence sources today, the insurgents are highly dispara